"Hell, that was nothing," he said. "I can do it with a quart of beer."
"Wow," Nikki said. ''A whole quart at once."
"I could probably do more if the bottle was bigger," Stuart bragged.
I saw the girls stifle giggles behind his back when he turned to me.
"You're going to live here now?" he asked. I nodded.
"I deliver gas to your... what is she, your aunt?"
"Great-aunt."
"What's a great-aunt?"
"She's my grandmother's sister, so she's called a great-aunt." I explained, speaking as carefully as Ian would. "If she were my mother's sister, then she would be just an aunt."
"Oh, yeah? I don't know if I have any greataunts."
"Are any of your grandparents alive?" Alanis asked him, still stifling a laugh to keep it from bursting out of her lips.
"Yeah, my dad's father."
"Well, does he have any brothers or sisters alive?" Nikki asked him.
He stared, and then he shrugged. "I don't know."
"So ask him and let us know," Raspberry said. "We'll hold our breath until you tell us."
"You do that and you'll suffocate." he replied. That did it. They all let loose with laughter.
"What's so funny?" Stuart asked and looked to me. since I wasn't laughing.
"Everything makes them laugh," I said and thought if Ian had been here, he would have tagged them with one of his fancy synonyms for "stupid."
Stuart nodded and sipped on another alcopop.
"Your great-aunt is nice," he said. "She always gives me something when I deliver a tank."
"Money?" Alanis asked, breaking her laugh quickly and throwing a glance my way.
"Naw. Just stuff. Once she gave me a leather wallet. Here." he said, reaching into his back pocket. "This is it." He offered it to me to examine.
It had tiny letters in gold on the outside: BM. "There are letters." I said.
"Let me see," Nikki demanded and pulled it out of my hands. "BM. What's that, bowel movement?"
They were hysterical again. I took the wallet back quickly.
"No. It probably belonged to my grandfather. His name was Blake March." I said.
Stuart smiled and sipped his drink.
Why had my great-aunt given him this wallet? I wondered. How come she had it?
"What else has she given you?" I asked him, handing the wallet back.
He looked at the girls. and then, after a moment, he extended his left arm and I looked at his watch.