"	Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin A novel by Karen Lockhart Copyright 2016

CHAPTER 29

Knowing I wouldn't get ten minutes peace until Ginny got this trip out of her system, so I called Doctor Singh's office on the phone. Luckily she had a few minutes to spare to talk to me. We discussed my diabetes, the weather, and finally got around to the reason I called.

“Doctor, Ginny is becoming obsessed with having surgery, to the point that she's making hotel and plane reservations so we can look at this surgical hospital.”

She had a minute of silence, then said, “Oh my God, all the way to Thailand, that's going to cost a fortune for the two of you.”

I chuckled. “Sorry, to Trinidad, Colorado, not to Thailand.”

“Big difference! So what's the harm in that; the two of you get a little vacation, and Ginny gets to see what she's getting into. I will more that likely recommend she continue with her hormones and recommend a physiologist to her.”

I could hear her talking to her nurse in the background. “Ellen, have a nice trip, and smile.”

With that, I hung up, leaned back in my chair, and looked at my calendar, wondering what I did to deserve this.

All this time Ginny was on the computer, clicking away. “Hey Ellen, I've got the info on Trinidad, want to hear it?”

“Okay, I'll come to you, don't move.”

I have to say this about her, she leaves no stone unturned when she wants something.

“To fly to Trinadad, we could take either United or American Air Lines from Boston to Colorado Springs Municipal airport, tickets are $404 each for a round trip. From there we rent a car and drive 113 miles to the intersection of Routes 25 and 160. When we get to Trinidad, we have a choice of six hotels for $70 a night. Should I make reservations and call the clinic to let them know we're coming?”

I was overwhelmed by the information she was able to get in less than an hour.

“Alright, make flight reservations for as early as possible for Monday, and reserve us a car at Colorado Springs. Which hotels did you come up with?”

Ginny looked at her notes, “Holiday Inn, Quality Inn, Super 8.”

I interrupted her, “Why don't you try the Holiday Inn, then if they don't have a room, try the Super 8. I don't mind sharing, so get a room with two beds, otherwise I'll tell Kevin you were cheating on him.”

“How could I cheat on him?........Oh! Ellen, you are nasty!”

I returned to my office and booted up my laptop. Once I typed in my password, it quickly went to my home page. I typed in eBay, signed in, and searched for 'saddles, hunt'.

Several pages of saddles in different sizes and styles came up. I wasn't going to buy, just doing what a girl does best, shopping!

After an hour, Ginny came over to my desk holding a notepad.

“Okay,” she said, “we're all set. We fly out of Logan at 8:57am on United, we arrive in Colorado Springs at 12noon, their time. I rented a Toyota Corolla, and I have a room at the Holiday Inn with two queen-sized beds, checking in on Monday and leaving on Thursday.

Our flight from Colorado Springs leaves at 11am, and arrives in Boston at 5:30pm. We should allow a good two hours driving time to cover the 113 miles between Trinidad and Colorado Springs.”

“Wow, Ginny, we'll have to leave Trinidad at 8am, no oversleeping.”

“That shouldn't be a problem for us though,” she resumed her lecture. “I spoke with several people at the hospital. They are very happy to have us come for a visit, and will make sure we can talk with a surgeon, several nurses, and a therapist or two.”

I started laughing, “You were a truck driver?”

She gave me a dirty look , spun on her heel, and flounced her way back to her desk. Now I know what flouncing is. That started another round of laughing on my part, and soon both of us were giggling.

At this point Steve Brady stepped inside. He looked from Ginny to me and back.

“This is why I'll never understand women. What's so funny? Let me in on it.”

“You wouldn't understand Steve, girl stuff.”

“Dammit, that's what I mean, Your humour is as hard to understand as those Brits in England.”

That started us off again, I think we both peed ourselves a little. But I wasn't going to tell Steve that.

“What's the time table with the surveyors?” he asked. “Are they coming this year?”

“I spoke with them this morning Steve, they will be out here to do a site survey with elevations starting tomorrow, finishing on Friday. Then when we call them again, they should respond in two days.”

“Now, some family business, Ginny and I need to take four days next week, this should work pretty good with the schedule of what's going on out here. They have your cell number if the fit hits the shan.”

“Sounds like you have your finger on the pulse, as usual.” Steve said “Do the surveyors have a set of prints?”

“The consultants took care of that, one less thing to worry about.”

He looked around the office, his eyes stopping briefly at Ginny's chest, before saying, “Off to the old job to see how badly my idiot nephew has screwed up. Bye girls.”

He went out the door, into the truck, and with a chirp of tires, down the road.

For five minutes , Ginny heard me muttering to myself, finally she walked over and asked if I was upset about something.

“That Steve, he knows I hate to be called a girl, he does it all the time, just to stir me up!”

The rest of the week was uneventful; there was a couple of small stories about drugs in the newspaper; one of them said bikers were bringing drugs north, to be distributed by a trucking company.

After work on Friday, Ginny and I got our heads together to figure out the best way to introduce her to Tina Morales on Saturday. My idea was to arrive early, get my horse ready, then walk down to Tina's horse's stall, introducing Ginny to her then. Her father usually sat in his car making phone calls, until the lesson was almost over, so he shouldn't be there. I had Ginny call Kevin to let him know the plan. Amazing, the phone call took over an hour! Ah well, young love.

To be continued

Thanks to Bronwen for fixing the spelling and typos.