Gene's Story or How I Gained a Cousin Chapter 37

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Gene's Story
or How I Gained a Cousin

A novel by Karen Lockhart


Copyright 2016
 



It's funny how things happen to change your life and the way you look at things



Chapter 37

Tina slept on the sofa again Sunday night, but I was worried about Monday. Would Vinnie track her down to my condo or not?

Well, three women made it through the morning with only one bathroom. I kept holding my breath, hoping Tina never got a flash of Ginny's extras. So far, so good.

Tina left for the animal shelter, and Ginny and I left for the Lynnway in her car.

No sooner had we opened up the office, but the boring crew pulled in and got started.

This operation would go on for the week, leaving Ginny and I not much to do, other than log in the spots where the cores were taken. This left plenty of time for Ginny to surf the internet on her laptop for TG/TS sites. She particularly liked the site with tons of stories written by amateur authors. Big Closet something.

She even got me to read a couple of stories, I really liked the one about a girl who was a stage actress, the hook was she really was a boy. Another one I liked was about entertainers on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean. A trio of girls needed a replacement singer, so a male cousin was talked into masquerading as a female who then decided to have a GCS. Cute story!

Whenever I had a spare moment, I thought about Tina. I can't kick her out, and it was only a matter of time before Ginny's secret wasn't a secret any longer. I was expecting to drive home and see Morales' black Cadillac blocking my driveway.

Ginny found a YouTube site where a cute make-up artist in Toronto was coming to Boston for a full make-over and surgery. The cost? $48,000 Canadian. She actually had a place where the viewers could contribute to her 'Girl' fund. She had about $30,000 so far.

I told Ginny to email her to find out the doctor, heck a taxi ride is better than going to Colorado any day. This way I could sleep in my own bed and drive in to be with her during her recovery. Apparently, price is no object. Ginny now has $70,000 in her 'make-over fund'. Maybe I should start charging her rent?

Anyway, we got home without seeing any black Caddies in the driveway. After changing, we sat in the kitchen over gin and tonics. The topic of Tina came up, surprise!

“What are we going to do about her, we can't toss her out,” Ginny started. “She told Morales that she was getting her own place if he continued harassing her friends.”

“I know, but she's a good kid, I bet she already has been looking for her own apartment.”

“But Ellen what happens if she doesn't, or it takes a while? What do we do then?”

“We'll move,” I wise-cracked.

“When she gets here let's put it out there, I don't want her father flying in here in a rage, one of us will be hurt.”

About 6pm Tina walked in with a big smile on her face.

I looked up, “What has you grinning, hit the lottery?”

“Better,” she said. “I found an apartment, It's right across the street, above the bank.”

“What?” Ginny squealed, “Across the street?”

“Yes, and can you believe only $1200 a month, utilities included? How could I pass this up?”

“That is great Tina, whenever we want to go shopping, ding-a-ling and run across the street.”

I looked at Tina, “Heard from your father yet? I can't believe he's still quiet, and hasn't phoned you.”

“I know, I expected him to be calling my cell last night. I worry more when he doesn't call,” she shrugged. “He's like a volcano, holding it inside, until he erupts all at once. And usually someone gets hurt.”

Ginny took a breath, “Has he hit you?”

“Not yet.”

Ginny started to get busy in the kitchen, “Stuffed pork chops, Stove Top stuffing, beets and fresh carrots. I also have apple sauce, Mott's natural. It should be ready in forty-five minutes.

Tina's cell phone rang about then. She looked at the caller ID, “It's him! What should I do?”

“Answer it, otherwise he might get in his car.” I said.

“Hello Dad, what do you want? No I told you I would leave. You should have thought about that Saturday.”

We were only hearing one side of the conversation, but Ginny and I figured out Vinnie's side too.

“I'm not coming back this time. I don't care if you're alone, you should have thought of it before you molested Ginny, you are such a sleaze, you make me want to puke.”

With that, she snapped her cell shut, threw it across the room, and burst into tears.

I put my arm around her shoulder and gave her a hug. “Don't worry, you stood up to him. I bet he was surprised by that. Nice job.”

I made another round of G&T's.

“I bet you can use this.” I said “I know I can.”

I put on the six o'clock news to catch the weather. It wasn't long before Ginny called us to dinner. Delicious as usual. Boy, if she leaves, I'll never cook for myself again.

Between the three of us the bottle of Chianti was empty in no time. Jeeze, two gin and tonics and a glass and a half of wine, that's more than I can handle. I was falling asleep on my feet. Where Tina was using the sofa for a bed, I decided to watch TV in my room. That way, when I fell asleep, I'd be in the correct spot.

“Good night all, I'll see you in the morning.”

From my room I could hear Tina and Ginny giggling for a half hour, then I wouldn't have heard a jumbo jet land in my driveway.

I also didn't hear Tina's phone ringing again.....and again.

To be continued

Many thanks to Bronwen Welsh for correcting typos and punctuation errors

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it is....

waif's picture

...an addiction.

the suspense between each episode is killing me.

waif

Be kind to those who are unkind, tolerant toward those who treat you with intolerance, loving to those who withhold their love, and always smile through the pains of life.

With the Right Connections

littlerocksilver's picture

... he might be able to locate the phone.

Portia

He doesn't necessarily need

Brooke Erickson's picture

He doesn't necessarily need connections. If he bought it for her, he could easily have had "hidden" tracking software installed. Heck, that's sold as a *feature* to parents for their kid's cell phones.

Frankly, if you are ever trying to avoid getting tracked, you should not merely turn off your cell phone, you need to take out the battery as well. And putting the phone and battery into a metal box (or at least wrapping the phone in aluminum foil) isn't unreasonable. Don't do that if the battery is in the phone though!

Y'see some models of cell phone are reputedly able to be turned on remotely. Not sure if I entirely by that idea.

But it *is* certain that many models can have the mike enabled remotely so that they act as a bug.

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks

He has corrupt cop's on his

He has corrupt cop's on his payroll so a claim of her being missing or worse could be used to get the information from the phone company or have the dispatchers call the phone to get the nearest tower thus the location

I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime

No need to call the phone.

Brooke Erickson's picture

No need to call the phone. Contrary to what they say on many TV shows, there does *not* have to be a call in progress to "trace" a cell phone. It just has to be turned on.

As long as a cell phone is on, and getting any "bars" of signal, it is handshaking with the nearby cell towers every few minutes.

The cell phone listens on the "command" channel, and sends a "hear I am". The phone system notes the 3 towers that get the strongest signal. So the phone is inside the triangle formed by those towers. You can even get a rough idea of *where* in the triangle from the differences in signal strength at each tower.

If you are on the edge of a coverage area, there may only be two, or even *one* tower that gets a strong signal. That still gives a rough area.

In the countryside, the triangle might be as much as a mile across. In heavily populated areas it may be as little as a block.

These days most cell phones have built-in GPS. When you call 911 your location *is* reported. You may have a setting to limit GPS to only that. Or you may not. If it isn't restricted, all sorts of applications (both on your phone and on the network) can get the GPS info in realtime.

That's how the "kid tracker" apps work.

So as I said, he may not *need* the cops to help. It may merely need someone at the phone company to get the info. and if there's a hidden tracker app loaded on the phone, he doesn't need *anybody.

Brooke brooke at shadowgard dot com
http://brooke.shadowgard.com/
Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world
"Lola", the Kinks

Trouble is brewing

Renee_Heart2's picture

Between Tina's dad & her. I hope he gets the message but he's use to getting what he wants when he wants it done he's the crime boss.

I hope Genny and Tina keep geting along if Tina finds out about her secret. Things are getting dicy here but I hope Ellen isn't TOO hung over from this night to work tomorrow.

Love Samantha Renee Heart

Self loathing

Jamie Lee's picture

With the number of phone call Tina is receiving it's as though her dad can't stand being alone. That he has to have someone around him all the time. That he hates his own company.

If he's the type who gets his own way, it may be only a few more unanswered phone calls before he tracks Tina down. If this happens this will be bad for all three. Four if daddy dearest, not, is counted.

Others have feelings too.