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

CHAPTER 31

The Patriots won by a close play in the fourth quarter, again. That horrible alarm went off at 4.30 AM, what a shock!

We needed to be at Logan Airport two hours before our flight at 8.57am. Ginny decided to have a limo pick us up at the condo at 6.30am. This will give us enough time to get to the United departures terminal by 7; we wouldn't have to fool around with finding a parking spot in the long stay parking either.

I hopped out of bed, hoping to beat Ginny to the bathroom, but the little minx beat me to it and locked the door.

“Come on Ginny I need to pee.”

“Use a wide mouth jar,” she yelled, “how does it feel?”

Okay, my bathroom, my lock, and my KEY! I quietly entered, sat, and flushed the toilet, giving her a shot of hot water.

“Eek, you fink, how did you get in?” she shrieked, “I had that door locked!”

I quickly ran back to my room and started packing, my shower could wait until Ginny was finished, and started her own packing.

“Ginny don't forget the limo is coming at 6.30. when you're done, why don't you start the coffee, and have something to eat? I'll be down in a few minutes.”

I dried off, gave my hair a quick brushing, putting it up in a ponytail, and did my normal minimal attempt at makeup. I gave myself a kiss in the mirror, grabbed my suitcase and headed for the kitchen.

“Coffee's ready, do you want oatmeal or dry cereal?”

I paused. ”I think I'll have corn flakes, I'll get them, you eat.”

About 6.20 a car horn gave a short toot. I looked through the window in the door, and flashed the porch light twice to let the limo driver know we were coming. Ginny flew by me yelling “Shotgun” and ran up to the passenger door. I walked down and stopped at the back door and stuck my tongue out, giving her the bird.

The limo driver opened the door for me and asked how long we'd been married. Ginny whooped at this, laughing so hard I suspect if she was a girl, she need to change her drawers.

“Sheesh, she's my cousin, for crying out loud.” I said.

The poor driver turned bright red, “Oh, please forgive me, when I saw how happy you both seemed, I figured you two for a couple.”

He spun away, happy to have to load our luggage into the back of the black Chevy Suburban.

“United Airlines departure terminal, correct?”

“Yes, our plane leaves at 9 AM, and don't feel embarrassed, that was a lovely complement you paid us.” I said.

The rest of the trip to the airport was smooth and quiet. I can't believe how GMC does it; this thing is a truck, and it rides as nice as a Cadillac!

We arrived at the United departures terminal in plenty of time. The driver placed our bags on a cart, and he and I went over our return flight information.

I told him we were returning at 5.30 PM from Colorado Springs airport on United Airlines. He gave me his cell number, asked if I would call if anything changed.

We hurried to the check-in desk, and got our tickets and seat assignments. Next we headed to the gate, but not until I received a free bare footed Xray courtesy of the TSA. After that we sat at the waiting area for our flight. In about 20 minutes we were called for boarding the plane. I've seen the movie twice, oh well.

We had a totally uneventful flight and landed at Colorado Springs at about noon their time. I sent Ginny for the luggage while I went to the car rental desk. I refused the optional insurance (a waste), got my keys and asked for a route map to Trinidad. The girl looked at me funny and asked why I needed a map, the car had built in GPS.

She pointed out a red Toyota Rav 4. “I gave you a free upgrade, since we had more of these than Corollas, besides us girls must stick together, it might snow.”

I opened the trunk and gave the keys to Ginny “You're the professional driver, not me, you might as well drive.”

She laughed at that, “Yes honey, I'll drive, you take it easy.”

“Stop that stuff, if was funny when the limo driver said it, now you are making me nervous.”

She just snickered, put the suitcases in the trunk, and opened the driver's door.

After about thirty minutes, I dozed off, snoring softly.

Ginny woke me about ninety minutes later. “We should be at the hotel in less than twenty minutes, I figured you'd want to be wide awake when we get there.”

I thanked her and looked at the scenery going by.

“Different than home isn't it?” I said. “I hope it doesn't snow.”

Ginny quickly found a parking spot near the entrance. I took the bags while Ginny checked us in at the reservation desk. She gave the hostess a charge card and received two room keys.

“You better not use that phony card, we may want to come back.”

“Don't worry, I used a Gene card. When we leave I'll pay cash.”

I opened the room's door and stepped in, “Oh,oh, it's only got one bed!”

Ginny picked up the phone and called the desk, I heard a few words but could tell from her body language the news was bad.

“There was a computer problem; the only vacant rooms have king size beds. No problem we can spoon together,” she said with a giggle. “You can trust me, I'm a girl too.”

“Like hell you are, you come close and I'll save you some money.” I warned. “I don't care what the limo driver thought.”

Apparently Ginny got a big kick out of this. She started to giggle, than laugh, then a case of the hiccups followed.

Now I laughed, “I'm serious you twit, one hug and it's off, cancel your visit at the clinic tomorrow.”

“Hey, what time do you want to have dinner? It's four now, how about in a hour, that's 7 PM at home.” she looked at me closely. “You're not going out of this room looking like that. I'll do your makeup tonight.”

I gave in to the greater force. She was right though, I was raised by my father, mom died when I was five. The makeup tips I got were from two friends, and they weren't very good.

“Wash your face, and sit at that table.”

I did as I was told. “The first thing you should use is moisturizer, then a light foundation to cover any blemishes. Now this darker base along the nose and the cheeks; this will make your cheekbones more prominent and appear higher. We're not going clubbing so I'll go easy on the eyes, just a little mascara, and some eye shadow to make your eyes more almond shaped. Now some lip liner, deep pink lip gloss and a little powder to set the gloss, and viola, gorgeous! Take a look in the mirror hun.

I turned in the chair and looked at a stranger staring back at me from the mirror over the desk. “Oh my god, that's me? Oh Ginny, I need help, will you teach me how to do this. You fibbed, just how long have you been dressing up?”

“Since I was fourteen, but I didn't go outside until I was a senior in high school, and no I never dated. As soon as we are home, I'll start a school of beauty. You bought all the necessary products that day at Macy's. I bet you haven't used any of it, have you?”

“It's five, why don't we go to the restaurant here? It's just past the reservations desk, that way we don't have to drive around a strange place looking for a good dinner.”

This turned out to be a good idea, My prime rib was perfect, and Ginny's steak melted in her mouth. After dinner we went into the bar and watched the Monday Night football game for a while. At 10 PM we returned to our room.

We took turns washing off the day's makeup. I decided to wear pajamas to bed. This of course started Ginny laughing again.

“Don't you trust me, I'm not a lesbian, I like guys.”

“Okay, what are you wearing to bed cousin?”

“I sleep in the nude,” she said with a gleam in her eye. “But tonight, I'm going to wear this nightgown, you can relax.”

With that we got under the covers as far apart as possible, me hoping it stayed that way!

To be continued

Many thanks to Bronwen Welsh for her help in fixing typos and puncuation