A Fire Destroyed Everything - Part 1

ALL STORY LIST | PARTS - PART 2 

Our family is certifiably strange. See, there are four parents and six children, and all of us children are related. Except for my sister Mathilda, who is the same age as me. Rebecca and Jeff,  they're my biological parents, and Penny and Chuck are Matty's biological parents. Anyway, just after we were born both sets of parents got divorced, and not too much later Rebecca married  Chuck and Jeff married Penny.

So Matty's and my half-sister Hilda and half-brother Andy were born to my mom, Rebecca, and Chuck,  and Matty's and my half-brother Zachary and half-sister Polly were born to my Dad Jeff and Penny.

If you are not yet confused, it gets better. Since all four adults are really good friends, and everyone sort of had joint custody of Matty and me, we were usually together and sort of considered all parents equal. This led to all sorts of trouble when somebody yelled for Mom, so they, meaning the adults,  decided we should all call them by their first names. Kind of weird, but it worked.

Matty and I were ten when my house, meaning Jeff and Penny's house, burned to the ground one Friday afternoon when a brush- fire got out of control on Mr. Grecheld's farm, jumped the creek,  and turned our place into charcoal. We all got out safely, but everything we owned was toast. Finding a temporary place to live on a Friday evening in the summer was near impossible, so as the insurance companies argued about who would pay whom, that night we all moved in with Rebecca and Chuck. I wound up sharing

Chuck's little camping trailer with Matty, who left the house to the four adults and the screaming mob. We had to go inside to use the bathroom, but both agreed it was a small price to pay for our sanity.

There was also the problem that all our clothes had gone up in smoke. For the younger set that meant borrowing jeans from each other. But Matty was really into dresses and things like that.  Which left my butt in, well, the breeze. Meaning that, except for what I was wearing, I was going to get stuck in her stuff until we could go shopping.

She thought it was absolutely hilarious,  and gave me a flannel nightgown with little bears all over it for the night. I griped, but it was really comfortable, and we snuggled up together and managed a really good night's sleep. In the morning I wore my clothes from the day before, but they were pretty ripe, and in the late afternoon I finally borrowed one of  Matty's robes and went inside to take a shower.

When I returned to the trailer my stuff was already in the wash,  and Matty said I would be living in a robe unless I put on the long skirt and blouse outfit she had found me, complete with some of her undies. I knew she wasn't joking, and decided to see how silly I would look. When I was finally dressed she made some odd noises, and telling me not to move, ran to get her hairbrush from inside the house.

There was no mirror in the camper, but when she finished, she said she was jealous and put on a nearly matching outfit before we went inside.  "Jonah, we are going to freak everyone out."  "I feel like a freak." The truth was that her clothes, including the borrowed panties, felt really good, and I couldn't figure out what made them so nice to wear.  "You look great. We could be sisters, instead of brother and  sister."  "Just what I didn't want to hear." The idea of pretending to be a  girl for a couple of days sounded like a lot of fun, but I  couldn't tell her that.

We made it to the upstairs bathroom unnoticed, and Matty made a  trip to her old room, which was now the domain of Rebecca and  Chuck. When she returned she was giggling. I saw the makeup kit and protested, but not hard enough to keep her from doing both our faces, and then our nails and even toenails. I squeaked and squawked, but I was enjoying the attention, and how I looked. She finally went and found us some of her tights and shoes.

I was surprised that a pair of shoes fit me, but Penny had apparently purchased Matty's favorite style in several sizes and colors when she had found them on sale. Matty checked each of us over carefully and added some colorful bands and clips to my hair. I sort of posed in front of the mirror, and she giggled again and asked if I was having fun.  "Of course not. I'm a boy, and what would I want to dress up in  girl's stuff for, anyway?" It came out really lame.

"Maybe because it's fun and you do look really good." I tried to make an argument, but it wouldn't come out.  "Okay, I don't know why, but this really is pretty neat. And I  think I'm prettier than you." She gave me a raspberry and a pout.  "But now it is time to freak people. Ready?"  She smiled, and we headed out the door to the living room where everyone else was congregated.

Zach was the first to see me and stood there pointing and making faces as we pranced into the middle of the room. After a lot of exclamations and laughter,  Zach and Andy said I looked stupid, Hilda and Polly said they liked me better like this, and the four parents all said we both looked cute and pointed out that we were going out for dinner.

I got some butterflies from the idea of being in public dressed like a girl, but they quickly disappeared when I realized how much I wanted to show off the new and different me. So over  Zach's objections that he would be forever embarrassed, we were soon on our way to Kalamazoo. Dinner was great, but both Moms kept correcting my manners and movements, saying I had to behave like a young lady. I would have screamed, but they were just as hard on Matty.

And for some weird reason, I wanted to do better than her. After dinner, I had to use the washroom, and everyone giggled as Matty dragged me into the ladies' room, after warning me to close the door on the stall and sit.

Other than being cleaner than the boy's room usually was, and having nothing on the wall to pee in, it was, well, a bathroom.  We made it back to Matty's house without falling asleep, but five minutes after I donned the nightgown and joined Matty in bed; we were out, oblivious to the world. Sunday morning Matty brought me a really pretty dress and real stockings, and soon we were properly dressed for church.

Usually, we didn't go, as only Penny attended church regularly, but our parents said that we had a lot of things to be thankful for, so we all went to church that day. Matty said that I couldn't be her sister with a name like  Jonah, and she renamed me Joanie.

I liked it, and when we joined up with everyone to head out, Matty announced my new name. Zach and Andy's comments were drowned out by Penny, who threatened them with three months of dishes if they made a fuss. Instant quiet.  No one seemed to notice anything strange at the Church, and we all got a lot of condolences about the fire. It was afterward that Mark, one of the kids from school, realized who I was and almost hurt himself laughing.

When Penny explained to his parents that everything we owned, including my clothes, went up in smoke,  and all I had to wear was Matty's stuff, Mark's Mom and Dad landed on him like bugs on spilled soda.

The other kids took the hint from what was happening to Mark and kept quiet. I behaved as much like a young lady, as I knew how, and almost got beaned by Matty, who said I was showing her up. On the way home, Jeff asked me what I was going to do about school tomorrow.

"You said we don't have the money to go out and buy a lot until the insurance company and everyone agree on what was covered. The  other kids may think it's silly, but if I have to, I can wear  Matty's stuff for a while until we get things straightened out."  Penny gave me a strange look, but Jeff seemed unfazed by my suggestion.  "You are going to get a lot of comments."  "So?" He just shook his head, and said I had been warned.

When we got back there were representatives of our and Mr.  Grecheld's insurance companies waiting for Jeff and Penny. It had started to rain, so Matty and I changed into what she called casual clothes, meaning short skirts and T-shirts, and preceded to raid the house for board games, which we set up on the small table in the trailer. Matty went and fixed us sandwiches, and said that Jeff and Penny were at the remains of my house with the insurance people.

We played Scrabble Monopoly Clue and even Parcheesi until we heard Jeff's car pull into the driveway.  I stuck my head out in the rain and asked how it went. They said to come inside, as they had brought back dinner, and they would brief everyone at the same time. When I saw the pizza boxes being unloaded from the trunk, I almost dragged Matty inside.  We sat around munching dinner while Jeff gave everyone the good and bad news.

At first, it sounded all good. All of our stuff was covered, even my rock collection and since the house was declared a total loss, they would probably pay enough for us to completely rebuild. The bad news was that since everything was completely destroyed, they would be paying us the entire amount within a  month, and it would be up to us to find a place to live and make all the arrangements for having the house rebuilt.

They did agree to pay us what they called a stipend to cover living expenses for four months, but with tourist season starting it would not be nearly enough to cover our living costs and renting a place in the local area, if we could even find a place to rent.

"So it looks like we will be living together as one family for a  while." All four of the younger set applauded. They really liked being together all the time. Matty gave me a hug and said she liked sharing a camper with me. I had the same feeling. "We will have to watch our expenditures carefully until we see what it will really cost to rebuild. So it looks like everyone will ride  the same bus to school on Monday, and I will call the school from  work and make sure they understand what happened."  "Um, what about our school books and homework."

Jeff smiled.

"They will just have to believe that you did the work. And they will replace the books. At least there are only  two weeks left before summer vacation starts." He looked at me and shook his head. "But if Jonah goes to school as Joanie..." He made helpless gestures. "There are going to be a lot of interesting problems,"  Penny spoke up. "As to Joanie, if anyone tries to give her any grief about anything, they can call any of us and get an earful.

Now we adults need to discuss logistics, and the six of you need baths and to get to bed early. And no long showers or someone  will run out of hot water." I beat Matty to the bathroom and promised she would get the second shower. So she found us clean clothes, and between us we managed, after washing our hair, to use up all the hot water. And Zach was third in line. Oh well.

In the morning we caught the bus without incident, and when we got to school, I caused a lot of confusion until I explained to  Mr. Handell, our homeroom teacher, about what had happened. He looked at me really strangely and muttered something about people not doing things like this when he was young. But the next kid who made a nasty comment about me and my skirt got sent to see the principal.

Which was a fate worse than being sent to prison, or locked in a dungeon full of kid-eating ogres. Most of the girls thought my wearing a skirt was great. Christopher, a  shy, quiet kid in my class who normally blended into the scenery, smiled at me and whispered that he wished he could dress like a girl every day. That was really confusing, but I smiled at him and whispered back that he didn't want his house to burn down.

He seemed thoughtful, then nodded and disappeared back into the woodwork.  As the day progressed I forgot about how I was dressed, or at  Matty's urging being called Joanie by almost everyone. I was feeling a strange calm like there was something right about the day and what was happening. And I didn't even get yelled at when  I used the girl's washroom. Not that I was even thinking about it being a problem. We took the bus home, and as usual, got home well before our parents.

Matty and I made snacks and directed cleanup efforts, including laundry, saying that all the parents would really need the help. Even Zach agreed, and soon the place was straight and everyone had clean sheets. Penny called and said that she was stopping at the store for groceries on the way home.  So we all gave our input, and she suggested we consider baking a  cake or two for dessert.  Hilda and Zach claimed the idea as theirs, so we left the kitchen to them and started on our homework. Fire or no fire, getting bad grades was a fate far worse than death. Because death would be quick, and our parents had repeatedly promised bad grades meant slow and lingering torture.

Hilda came out to get us around seven, saying dinner was ready.  Our brains were already well-toasted, so dinner sounded good. We could smell the roast chickens on the way to the front door. Yum.  I think Rebecca is a better cook than Penny. And the cake was great.  The rest of the week went really well. I got teased a lot, but after several kids from other classes got sent to the principal,  most of the teasing stopped.

And the other girls decided I deserved their protection, and they were scarier than the principal. Girls attack in packs and don't follow any rules of civilized combat. Or willingly take prisoners.  I was enjoying school more than usual but didn't understand why.

What I did realize was that I was now answering to Joanie faster than Jonah and that no one was calling me Jonah anymore. Not even my parents or siblings.   Over the weekend there were a lot of discussions about finances,  and what was to happen to all our plans for summer vacations. Our parents' employers required vacations to be scheduled many months in advance, and that meant any changes equated to no vacations at all during the summer. But the first vacation was not scheduled until the Fourth of July week, so we had some time to decide.

Rebecca took Matty and me shopping, and against Matty's loud objections, bought us both jeans and shorts and regular socks and tennis shoes. So I went back to mostly being Jonah, but quite a few people, including Matty and Zach, kept calling me Joanie.  Most of our friends didn't seem to care if I wore jeans or a  skirt, and I refused to quit using Matty's lip gloss or putting colored ribbons in my hair. Matty finally admitted that shorts were better than skirts for yard work and playing catch. I was almost too busy doing homework and enjoying being Joanie to notice that Matty and I now had a lot of new panties, courtesy of  Rebecca.

The last week of school was normal pandemonium. All six of us managed A's and very few B's, so the parents were obliged to take us out for ice cream. And we all said short goodbyes to our friends on the last day, knowing we would see most of them during the summer. It was a very full and happy bus that carried us,  some of our friends, and the contents of our lockers home that afternoon.

The parents completed their promises and brought home steaks and potatoes for the grill, and with the weather deciding to cooperate, we ate and partied until it was time to close up and get some sleep. I briefly wondered, as I was drifting off, if  Christopher would ever get his wish to come to school as a girl.  Saturday was one of the strangest days of my life.

It started early in the morning with a thunderstorm with incredible lightning and high winds that rocked the trailer so badly that we were afraid it would tip over. Chuck came out and dragged us inside through the rain in our nightgowns, and down to the basement,  saying there was a tornado warning.

The wind got stronger, and there were booms and bangs and crunching noises. But when the wind died down after dawn, we left the basement to find the only damages were a couple of broken windows and lots of limbs and branches all over the place. Which the radio said was all that happened in our area. The trailer had blown almost to the road but was fine. Our staff, however, was scattered all over the inside, and it took two hours just to put things back where they belonged.

Rebecca and Chuck headed off to town to get some new window glass but quickly returned super-excited and empty-handed.  Without explanation to any of us, they dragged Jeff and Penny out with them and told us to finish the cleanup and to watch out for the broken glass. Most everything we could do was done by noon.

Matty and I had removed the old caulking and prepared the frames for the new glass. We even covered the open windows with heavy trash bags and duct tape to keep out the bugs. Zach cooked up some hot dogs and Hilda made salads, so we were eating lunch when the parents, all excited, returned and called us together. Jeff did the announcements.  "Remember Juliet Heymand?"  We all nodded.

Her daughters had grown up with our parents and had been their closest friends until both Juliet's daughters and their husband's entire families were killed in a plane crash while on vacation somewhere in South America a couple of years ago.  Penny and Rebecca were really upset back then and still managed to spend an awful lot of time with Juliet, helping her through the loss of her children and grandchildren.

We missed Gina and Anne, her two daughters and only children,  even though we only met them a few times. "She finally listened to her doctors and friends and decided to move with several of her other friends to an assisted living country club over in  Battle Creek. Anyway, she's already moved into her new place and has been in the process of putting her house up for sale.

When we  met at the store today, and she learned our place had burned down  with everything we owned, she made us an offer that we couldn't  refuse." All the kids stared at him. Juliet's house was a huge old mansion just outside of town.

"She wanted to sell us her house at a real bargain price.

But even with the insurance money as a down payment, Penny and I  couldn't afford the monthly installments. Then Rebecca came up with a wild idea, and we." he indicated all four adults,  "really think the idea is great. So we want to know what all of  you think." He stopped and looked at us expectantly.  "Um, Dad, what idea?" Jeff looked at me and realized he had forgotten the rest of the story as everyone snickered.

"Oops, I guess I should tell you. The idea is that Chuck and  Rebecca sell this house, and we all move into Juliet's place together. It's much bigger than our old house and this house  together, so there's more than enough room, and..." The resulting shouting made it clear that we liked the idea of being together.  Rebecca made a telephone call, and we were shocked when she told us that Juliet wanted us to move in the next weekend.