She reached out to touch me, as if to be sure I was really sitting there.
"What a sweet child. Look at all the happiness you've already brought. I'm so happy they sent you to be with me. I've got a family again."
I didn't know what to say. Both Alanis and Stuart just stared. "I guess we should clean up," Alanis said.
"Oh, no," Great-aunt Frances said, rising and waving her hands frantically. "Not yet. I have a surprise for dessert. I forgot all about it because it was so deep in the back of my freezer."
"What is it?" Stuart asked quickly.
"An ice cream pie in a graham cracker crust."
"Chocolate?"
"And vanilla, too, with whipped cream on top," she declared. "You kids just sit tight. I'll go get it"
"Hey, I might wanna move in here too," Stuart quipped when she walked into to the house. "Maybe you can get your great-aunt to adopt me."
He sat there smiling like a contented cat. Alanis stared so hard at him that he looked at me and then back at her.
"What?" he asked.
She looked at me and then leaned toward him. "You know what a tadpole is. Stuart?"
"Sure, why?"
"You know you have them living in you, don't you?"
"Get outta here."
She smiled at me. "Stuart's got a lot to learn," she said. "And we'll teach him. You want to learn about sex, don't you, Stuart?"
"What's there to learn?"
Alanis laughed so hard I had to smile. He looked at both of us, and then, not knowing what else to do, he laughed himself.
"Here we go, partners!" Great-aunt Frances cried from the rear house entrance. She carried the ice cream pie out to the table. "Let's eat it before it melts."
Despite the tough steak, we did enjoy our Western picnic. When it was over. Alanis and I. with Stuart helping as much as he could, cleaned up. We told Great-aunt Frances to go watch her television show while we washed the dishes and put everything away.
"This is like having servants again," she declared. "Wouldn't Emma be jealous?"
"Who's Emma?" Stuart asked.
"Jordan's grandmother. Don't ask questions. You have one good arm. Take out the garbage." Alanis told him.
When we were finished, she decided we should go up to what was now our room. Stuart followed, looking frightened and confused.
"Close the door," Alanis ordered, and he did so.
He stood there looking around. "I never was in this house. It's pretty big."
Alanis knelt down and reached under the bed.
"Why do you have a book under the bed?" he asked.
"It's our project workbook," she replied. "We're up to erogenous zones."
"What's that?" he asked.