We woke up the next morning and Scotty went over all the details on how to connect the engine to the generator.

  “When you have everything ready, let me know and we’ll hook her up!” Scotty said.

  “We need to go shopping anyway and I’ll pick up the items on the list.” I said.

  “We need a bunch of stuff too. We should all go shopping.” Helen said cheerfully. Jillian whispered to Helen and they both looked at me and giggled.

  “What are you two up to?” I asked.

  “Nothing.” Jillian and Helen said in harmony.

  “That sounds like a conspiracy brewing!” Scotty said.

  My birthday is next week or the week after and Jillian has not said a thing about it, which makes me suspicious by its own right. Jillian and I borrowed Scotty’s pickup. Helen, Scotty and all the dogs got in Scotty’s truck as Helen tried to keep the four pups contained in a large box on her lap.

  Jillian and I were laughing so hard at the spectacle of all of them in the truck, Jillian took at least ten pictures with the hopes of getting at least one good one. Roy was in major distress and was only satisfied inside Scotty’s shirt smelling the air as they drove.

  “That’s got to be some kind of record! Can’t wait to show that to the Lightening group!” I said into the radio.

  “Pete’s breath is bad enough, but combined with the rest! WOW!” Scotty said as we could hear all the animals panting.

  “Ouch! OUCH! OUCH! Damn!” Scotty said laughing as we heard Helen burst into laughter as the radio was cutting in and out.

  “You guys are drinking pretty early for a Tuesday!” Paul’s voice came across the radio.

  “Today is Thursday.” Susan said correcting him in the background.

  “Can’t wait to show you this! Imagine an entire K-9 Baseball team including the latest Pee Wee draft picks in a small confined space.” Jillian said laughing.

  “How is my patient?” Jillian asked.

  “He is doing fine, but…” Paul stopped his sentence short, muffled talking could be heard.

  “His friend decided to take some time off and left real early this morning.” Paul said reluctantly.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  “Yes, this occasionally happens, but you may be having a visitor.” Paul said diplomatically.

  “No problem.” Jillian said.

  “Are we…?” Susan’s voice now coming over loud and clear.

  “Yes. Did you…? Jillian responded.

  “Yes.” Came a response from Susan.

  “What about number six? Helen asked.

  “No. But we have a substitute.” Paul responded. This cryptic conversation was obviously pre-arranged so I had to say something.

  “What about number eight?” I asked.

  “Nice try. There is no number eight.” Jillian responded.

  “Damn!” I said.

  “Lightening out.” Paul said laughing.

  We stopped at a huge home improvement store that Jillian and I have never visited and the dogs poured out of Scotty’s truck and relieved themselves in multiple places and scanned the area. After a quick sweep and a drink of water, Ginger and Pete were ready for work. Rosie, Becky and Jeff patrolled the area outside as Helen put the box of pups in a shopping cart.

  “How many trips to this store have you made?” I asked Scotty looking at the tracks in the dirt. “About five or six.” He responded.

  Ginger stayed with Scotty and I, while Pete went with Helen and Jillian to the garden center. After about forty-five minutes of shopping Scotty called Helen on the two-way radio as we loaded up the pick-up truck.

  “Helen. You need to bring the pups outside, lunch is ready.” Scotty said as the wolf pack caught something at the far edge of the parking lot. “Okay. Were on our way.” Helen said. Scotty took the shopping cart full of pups from Helen.

  “I hope they saved some for me!” Scotty said smiling as Rosie patiently waited for Scotty and let the pups go about half way.

  “Looks like it may have been a small deer.” Scotty said.

  “Oh.” Helen said with remorse. Ginger and Pete just smelled the air as we shared some snacks and water with them.

  When the wolf pack was done, they came over and drank most of the water as we secured the load in the pick-up. Scotty and Jillian reviewed the road maps and selected the best route back to Malibu. We said our goodbyes and we headed off in different directions.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Jillian and I spent the next three days and two shopping trips getting the engine and generator prepared for the final install with Scotty. As well as some additional lighting for the patio and pool area. I pulled the engine from the ‘4001’ according to Scotty’s instructions and built an enclosure for it next to the house.

  Jillian was performing additional cleaning and preparations for our guests and looking forward to using all the light switches and outlets. I called Scotty and gave him the update and he went through a mental checklist of items that only a few minor omissions included.

  “We’ll be there tomorrow, in the afternoon.” Scotty said as Helen asked to talk to Doctor ‘J’.

  “Don’t you have some… voltage to regulate or something?” Jillian asked me, apparently looking for some privacy with her discussions with Helen.

  “I was thinking of regulating YOUR voltage. But now I just might go solo.” I said walking away.

  “You just go ahead and start without me.” Jillian said taking off her shoes.

  As I finished washing up, I heard the road alarms go off. I listened close and only heard Jillian’s muffled conversation and the wind as I grabbed my guns. I heard the heavy slam of a car door followed by “Hello Ginger. Hello Pete.” Rebecca. I opened the screen door to the garage and Rebecca was greeting Ginger and Pete who were happy to see her.

  “Good morning.” I said.

  “Good afternoon.” Rebecca said smiling. Her expression changed.

  “I’m sure Paul told you…” Rebecca said as I interrupted her uneasy sentence.

  “Yes. You are welcome here.” I said.

  “Sometimes you just need to get away.” Rebecca said.

  “I come bearing gifts! Here take this.” Rebecca handed me a box from the back of the dirty Escalade.

  “The cooler is kind of heavy.” Rebecca added as I opened the cooler.

  “Lobsters! Nice! Thank you!” I said as I entered the kitchen with the box and Jillian was walking down the staircase in high heels, garter belt, white stockings and a pushup bra that was actually only a half bra and no panties, looking absolutely gorgeous. Jillian looked at Rebecca and Rebecca said “Wow! Talk about good timing!”

  “Hello. Rebecca.” Jillian said very uncomfortably then trying to cover herself up.

  “You know, we are about the same size, maybe we can put on a show!” Rebecca said in a serious tone.

  “I wouldn’t last more than two minutes.” I said, also in an even more serious tone.”

  “Besides, these lobsters only have about an hour or less.” Rebecca said smelling inside the cooler as Jillian retreated back up the stairs.

  “You better check in.” I said as I gestured toward the radio on the kitchen counter.

  “Lightening come in.” Rebecca said into the radio.

  “Lightening here. We were starting to get worried.” Susan said.

  “All secure here.” Rebecca said.

  “Call us with any updates. Okay?” Paul said after a long uncomfortable pause.

  “I will. All my love.” Rebecca said.

  “Love you too. Over and out.” Susan said in a somber tone.

  The sunshine gave way to cloudy skies as the wind stopped and we felt the pressure change. A cold light rain began as I made ready for rainfall. The temperature outside dropped to forty degrees as I fired up the generator using ‘Scotty’s special fuel’. The generator was loud but my sound proof enclosure made it unnoticeable inside the house with all the windows and doors closed. I started a fire in the beautiful fireplace. It was one of my favorite accents to the house besides the patio.

  Jillian and Rebecca made a wonderful fish and lobster stew as they both leafed through the numerous volumes of pictures of our adventures. I grabbed the two-way radio and collected the dogs to see how the rain collection systems were performing.

  “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.” I said as they were obviously reviewing the Canada pictures with Tom, and only paying half attention to me.

  After about thirty minutes of inspections, I gazed upon our house and felt a resounding sense of calm and serenity listening to the rain as the chimney gently smoked from my position across the street. Ten years ago, I never would have thought I was capable of anything like this. Working as a drone to the confines of an alarm clock, everyday not much different than the next. A sense of self satisfaction and pride came over me that only a man can truly understand. Being able to provide shelter, warmth and security to the ones he loves.

  A sparkle appeared out of the corner of my right eye, just down the street. It reminded me of a car headlight. I waved and said “Thank you for a beautiful day” as Ginger and Pete looked at me waiting to throw a stick.

  Couple of days after Rebecca left, Helen and Scotty called to confirm their visit and that they would be bringing the pack because Rosie was already sitting in the truck with her family when Helen mentioned Ginger and Pete. I expressed my concern for road conditions because of the rains and Helen and Scotty said that they did not get rain and that they would be careful.

  Jillian the dogs and I were in the gardens as Scotty’s muddy truck pulled in the driveway.

  “She’s a beast!” Scotty said as Roy’s head popped out from under his shirt. “Couple of tricky spots but no problem.” Scotty said as he opened the door and let the wolf pack out. We all went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

  “Oh. Are these more pictures?” Helen asked inserting a SD card lying next to Jillian’s laptop. Jillian and I looked at each other. “Wait… don’t!” Jillian said looking towards me. Helen’s expression changed to a blank, quickly going through the pictures of Jillian and I. She stopped, observed Scotty on the patio with the dogs and turned to us and said quietly; “You guys have all the fun.” In a tone that sounded like disappointment.

  Scotty called me outside near one of my holding tanks as the pack ran around outside playing as Rosie kept a close eye on the little ones.

  “You need to tighten that lock ring.” Scotty said pointing. “We’ll get to that later, let’s see what you got. Scotty said excitedly rubbing his hands together. We positioned the pieces on the side of the house, made the connections and were called in for lunch.

  After lunch, Scotty tested the connections and double checked everything. “Hit it!” Scotty said as I hit the ‘Start/Stop’ button. A small click and the meter jumped to a level Scotty was comfortable with, it looked like around ninety-four percent. We went to the service panel and one by one we switched the breakers looking at the thermal readings and sniffing.

  I transmitted the location of each breaker to Jillian and Helen over the two-way radio and received jubilant confirmations on each.

  We were at the bottom of the service panel, last one. “Pool house.” Scotty said looking toward me knowing this was a power hog. I installed a new filter system and heater last month. I flipped the dual breaker and we walked over to the pool area. Brown and red water poured in a cloud and quickly dissipated as we checked the filter and lighting controls on a panel near the patio. Only a gentle hum could be heard. We walked back over to the generator. It was reading eighty-five percent. “Damn.” Scotty said as he made a couple of adjustments.

  “There we go. Ninety-three percent. Not too shabby!” Scotty said with a smile and a handshake. Jillian was having fun using the light switches as Helen replaced burnt out light bulbs.

  “Seventy-nine, let’s say eighty percent! Damn!” Scotty said as the smell of burnt dust poured in through the registers as the heater kicked on.

  We finished up dinner as the sun was setting. For some reason this sun set seemed more beautiful than I can ever remember. I felt a weight lifted from my shoulders watching the dogs relaxing in the grass as the four pups played and climbed all over Ginger and Pete.