Chapter 22:     Melly Returns

ART writes---

Doug and Melly Wielson returned to Monroe at the end of April.  I 
picked them up at SeaTac Airport.  They were easy enough to
recognize, the two most beautiful people to get off the plane,
tanned and healthy.  Doug looked the same, except for his complete
style change, from clean-shaven with ponytail long hair to mustache 
and crew cut.  

My heart almost stopped when I saw Melly: quite grown up, almost 17, 
she looked so much like Sally now, only taller (5'10") and with Doug's 
patrician nose to shift her beauty beyond cuteness to 
absolutement formidable, golden hair waving down to her hips.

We all greeted, embraced and danced around like people do in
airports, then Melly looked around and asked, "Where's Addy?" 

"Addy couldn't come because he'd fill up the car all by himself,
and there'd be no room for you two.  He and Elaine are waiting 
back home."

"Just how big is he now?" Doug asked.

"Almost 8 feet tall, weighs 460.  But those are just numbers, wait
till you SEE him," I said proudly.  

"Then let's hurry!" Melly insisted.

Doug rolled his eyes for me, "We'd better do it.  She's talked 
about nothing else since we left Jakarta."

"Well, Adam has been looking forward to seeing you too, Melly," I 
told her, "in fact, he's been pretty nervous."

Melly smiled, "He has?  Good!"

We compared Jakarta and Seattle as we drove north along I-5.  They
described a traffic hell that made the local traffic hell look 
good, both of them seemed glad to be back in the Pacific
Northwest.

As we approached Seattle, Melly was looking for her landmarks, the
Space Needle, SeaFirst Building, "Hey, where's the King Dome?" she
asked.

"They tore it down last year," I told her, "got a newer bigger
better stadium now."

"The American Way," Doug remarked, "use it up and throw it away." 

"Oh, Dad," Melly remarked, "you're already forgetting how bad it 
was in Jakarta."



It was sunset when we arrived.  Inside the house, Adam and Elaine 
heard us pull into the driveway and he went into a panic.  He had 
changed shirts several times and was looking for the right place 
and pose to be in when they entered.  

"How should I stand?" he asked in panic.  Elaine giggled, she
couldn't help it.

The door crashed open, Melly wasn't waiting for Doug or me. Elaine
was first to be hugged, they danced and laughed.  That gave us 
time to catch up.

Adam and Melly hadn't even said anything to each other yet, it was
obvious that they were both extremely nervous about meeting each 
other again.

"God damn, Adam my man, you're a mountain!" Doug said in awe.

Adam nodded, "Yeah, hi, Doug," didn't smile, neither offered to 
shake hands. 

Melly could now turn her attention to Adam.  But she did smile and
said, "Wow!  Mount Everest!"

"Hi, Mell." Adam didn't move.  Still didn't even smile.  I think he
was paralyzed.

"Hi, Big..." Melly started to say, but there was a pause, I could 
sense that neither of them wanted the word brother to be said, 
"...Guy."

Adam smiled for the first time, and that was all it took to set
Melly off.  She threw herself at him, jumping up into his arms,
wrapping her own arms around his neck and hugging him as vigorously
as she could.

Then she looked him in the eyes close up.  "Don't I get a kiss?"

Adam tried to shyly peck her on the cheek, but she stopped his 
head with her hands, "No," she said, "a real kiss.  A ME and
YOU kiss."

We'd never seen Adam kiss Melly that way before, but he gave her 
what she asked for.  Their mouths locked together in a kiss as 
un-brotherly as possible, a movie kiss, long and passionate.

We were all just standing there; mouths open, watching the show.
Hell, we weren't even there, they were alone together at last.  It
was almost like that time they first met, when little Melly had 
placed her hand over little Adam's heart and...

"Wooo-ee!" Melly cried out when they finally broke for air. Then
she looked down at us from her perch high in Adam's arms and
grinned in smug innocence.  Reminded us that we could breathe 
again, now that the display of raw passion was over.  Doug was 
looking slightly shocked, but then he was caught up in an embrace 
himself as Elaine reached him.

Melly didn't care what anybody thought, she had zero dignity.  She
laughed and crawled around to Adam's back, tossing a leg up to sit
on his shoulders, although she didn't have much head room left under 
the ceiling.

Doug had to protest, "Melly, you're trampling all over poor Adam, 
can't you come down?"

"It's okay, Doug," Adam said, "Melly can trample all she wants."

She nuzzled his cheek and whispered into his ear.  "Take me for a 
run through the woods!"

Adam, whose sense of propriety was slightly more intact than
Melly's, said, "You and your dad just got here, shouldn't we wait 
until tomorrow?"

"Addy...I can't wait!"  Her voice squeaked with urgency.

Adam laughed, shrugged, "Excuse us, folks, gotta run.  We'll be
back soon."

He had to duck low to go through the door with Melly on his back, 
and then they were gone.  We looked at each other.  Doug shrugged,
"Kids will be kids."

So we had some beers and talked about what was going on in Monroe,
Adam's school, the band, the IPR, Doug's plans, there was a lot to
catch up on.  It was a nice summer evening so we tried to sit on 
the porch, until the mosquitoes drove us indoors again.  

Every so often we could hear Melly shrieking with delight as she
shot through the darkening forest on her godlike steed.

"Well, they're having fun," Elaine remarked.

Doug laughed, "Good for them.  She's been talking about her ride
through the woods all day long."

I lifted a beer, had to tease my old buddy a little, "I guess you 
know all about the symbolism..."

"Yeah yeah, I know," Doug said, "as long as it's just symbolic,
let them have their fun."

"Well Doug, you've certainly mellowed.  You're not worried about 
all that passion anymore?" Elaine asked.

"Naw.  Adam and I have discussed...things.  I trust him."  Doug
looked rather complacent. 

I was about to ask what they had discussed, knowing that they had
not spoken to each other in four years and having picked up on 
the stiffness between them now.  But Adam and Melly came back, so 
I never asked. 

She was on foot this time; they were holding hands and laughing.
Her hair was tangled and wild with twigs and leaves, her t-shirt
was now inside-out, skin flushed.  If any girl ever looked 
just-been-laid, she did.

But she innocently announced, "Ohmygod, that's got to be better
than sex!"

This time we all rolled our eyes.



That night Elaine and I discussed Melly's Return.  It was an
interesting subject.

"Doug must back to his old free-thinking, ways" I said, "if he's 
really that calm about Adam and Melly's passionate reunion." 

"He's not," Elaine said without a doubt, "there's something wrong 
between him and Addy, they didn't even shake hands." 

"I noticed that too. And they were both being way too polite for 
old friends.  But Doug did seem pretty sure that those two horny 
teen-agers weren't going off in the woods to get laid."

"Well, I'm sure as well.  Not yet, anyway, that would be pretty 
fast work," Elaine said, "especially since Adam has been so 
insecure about this."

"Boy, Melly sure wasn't."

"Oh yes she was," Elaine spoke with the surety of her woman's 
intuition, "but she pushed on through anyway.  She had to." 

"Well, I'm sure they'll work it out.  At least they're older now 
so we don't have to stand in their way anymore.  Doug is on his 
own now if he wants to keep them apart.  They have my blessing, as
long as they're happy."

"Mine as well, but there's no guarantee of happiness," Elaine 
noted, "but then, there never is, even for us normal humans."

"Are you worried that Doug could be right after all?  That a 
squatch and a human can't mix?" 

"There'll certainly be problems, Doug might just be the least of 
them, but really; squatch, human, who cares?  If they're ready to 
love each other, then it's up to them.  And I don't know if Adam 
is ready, but Melly is."

"Well...lucky Adam," I announced.

"Lucky Melly too, I think.  But enough about them," Elaine said, 
sliding up against me, "and all of their passions--must be the
power of suggestion--because now I sort of need to be serviced."

"Oh oh, here we go again: those same old pheromones! No sleep at night, 
no rest all day..."

"'Fraid so.  Get it up."

"Well, I don't know, Elaine, I'm kind of tired, had a long drive 
to Seattle and all..."

"That's okay, Doug is just upstairs..."

"...but I'll see what I can do."



Doug and Melly stayed with us for a week until his house was 
ready.  The people who had rented it for the last four years had
already bought another house, so Doug had no problem getting it 
back, but it did need to be painted and fixed.

I drove Doug into Seattle to buy a car he had found on Internet,
and we stopped into the Comet Tavern, my favorite sleazy bar on 
Capitol Hill.  I asked about his new job.

"Oh, it's pretty experimental just yet.  I got invited in by an
old Microsoft colleague working on a contract for non-lethal
weaponry for government and police agencies.  At some point a
civilized society has to find a way of controlling violent
people or groups without just blowing them away or killing them.
Right now we're specifically working on software to sabotage 
illegal computer operations, but there's also a lot of real sci-fi
stuff in the works: metamorphic camouflage, EMP grenades, sedative
gasses, pepper foam, hi-tech non-lethal force."

"Sounds just like that government think-tank you turned down when 
you were younger and decided to study linguistics at Stanford 
instead."

"Oh, you remember that?  Yeah, well it's those same people, all
right.  Had me on their list all this time, finally got their
hooks in me.  What goes around comes around."

"It sounds pretty interesting.  And rather noble--humane law
enforcement."

"Yeah, well, anything can be misused.  Give the police non-lethal
weapons and they'll have even less compunctions against using them
on anybody.  But I had to get out of Jakarta, so I took the job."

"Was it so bad over there?"

"Politically, yeah, it was about to go nuclear.  But it was an
ex-pat paradise and the women there were fantastic.  Really did
their best to get and please foreign boyfriends and all you had
to do was give them a VCR or something."

"Yeah?  Hmmm.  How did Melly like it there?"

"Oh she liked it. She was in a good school, had lots of friends,
boys swarming.  But she's..."

"Yeah?"

Doug's face took on a sour expression.  "She never stopped talking
about Adam.  All that time.  I'd have thought after so long...I 
don't know how healthy that relationship is for her."

"Well, she loves him," I mentioned.

"Yeah, well, she's also screwed up over him.  She thinks he's her 
PET or something.  I don't know.  I almost didn't come back here 
because of Adam.  Don't get me wrong, I love Adam, but...I love 
Melly more."

I sat back and observed Doug from a little distance.  My best
friend, once at least, now I was feeling uncomfortable with him.  
"So why did you come, bringing Melly back to Adam and all?"

"Melly's an independent girl--and independently wealthy now--
Sally's estate left her a sizable trust fund, so that she gets 
enough money every year to finance her education and support 
herself.  She had decided to come back and if I wouldn't, she'd
just come back alone," he said.  "She figured she could just move 
in with all of you."

"Yeah, well, she figured right," I told him.

"Well, I didn't want that.  I'm worried about her: Melly thinks 
the meaning of life is a wild ride through the woods on the back
of her squatch boy friend." 

I looked at him, at how much he had changed.  Then I had to shake
my head and laugh about it, "Doug: Melly is absolutely RIGHT! 
Let's not worry about her, let's worry about YOU!"



Adam and Melly were having a good time.  It was a great summer
weather-wise, their days were free, since neither of them had jobs 
yet, except that Adam would play music two nights a week with 
Guesswork.  Melly went along and cheered him on. 

They also went up to their old hangout, Naked Lake, where they 
sunbathed and swam and picnicked with the other regulars.  Or they
went inland, straight up into the Cascades, Melly upon Adam's
shoulders, casually looking for the sasquatches but mostly just 
being together.

And they were together all the time.  Even sleeping.  After the
second night she simply told Doug that he could have her room, 
she'd be sleeping in Adam's.  Of course Doug protested against
that, she was still under the legal age, etc.

In her usual outspoken manner Melly announced, "Look, Dad, 
we're just talking and cuddling, and...oh yeah, sleeping.  Not 
copulating, relax." 

"You two don't need to be together 24 hours a day!" he retorted.  

"Right now we do.  I missed him for four years, I want to catch
up."

We were all somewhat surprised to hear that they were still "not
copulating", but relieved as well, even though we had already 
accepted it as all right.  We knew that Melly was telling the
truth because she wouldn't have kept it secret for a second if they 
were.  She was absolutely proud of loving Adam, and totally 
unabashed about it. Cosmic Mates, you know.

Once Doug got the house finished he moved in and insisted that
Melly move in with him.  She was really reluctant; she didn't want
to sleep in a nice bedroom in a small town; she wanted to sleep in
the wilderness, on the edges of craggy cliffs in the rain, kept 
safe and warm by the embrace of her furry Tarzan.

They had some father-daughter arguments while with us, we couldn't
help overhearing them, and even if we had missed out on anything 
juicy Melly would involve us anyway.  The dominating theme Doug 
reiterated was that: "You are too young to be living in sin with 
ANY man, and that until you reach the Legal Age of Adulthood I am
responsible for your MORAL BEHAVIOR!" 

"God damn, Doug Wielson, is this the same man talking who had a
different Indonesian girl friend every month?  No, can't be.  Must
be the Doug Wielson who believed in free sex and women's rights in
the 90's.  Oops, no, can't be him either..."

"You're just so young, I'm trying to keep you from making the same
mistakes I made..."

"Yeah, well, I must be one of them!  Look, I bought that "too 
young" bit when I was 13, but now?  Come on, Dad, grow up!  You
told me yourself that you were screwing girls when you were 15."

"I was a guy..."

"Stop!  You also taught me that the sexes are equal, changed your
mind about that too?"

"Guys don't get pregnant!"

"Who's getting pregnant?  How could I if I'm not even screwing?
Besides, if I WAS having sex with Adam..."

"You're NOT!  You never will!"

"Oh Dad, it's inevitable someday, you know that.  Anyway, I 
couldn't get pregnant or even catch VD with a sasquatch, so why
worry?"

"You don't seriously want to have sex with a...a squatch...do
you?"

"Where have you BEEN all this time?  Tell me that YOU DON'T 
KNOW that I've loved Adam since I was 3."

"Sure, Big Twin Brother, fine!  But not as a...a man." 

"Look, Dad, if you start being racist about Adam Leroy Forest...
well, don't even think about it.  I'll defend him against ANYONE, 
you know that.  So if that's where you want to go, you go there 
alone."  

We could hear that Doug was clutching at straws with a Free 
Thinker like Melly, and that some of his own Free Thinker status
had gone stale.  But she did eventually move into town with Doug
when he did.  He also kept her home at nights, just like any 
common 17 year old daughter, such a tyrant.

But Adam and Melly still spent their days together, so if they
really wanted to have sex they could easily pull it off.  Or so it
seemed to us.  Doug was against it, but the truth is that Elaine 
and I were getting a vicarious thrill waiting for it to happen.

Especially because of that faint but familiar smell around the 
house whenever Adam and Melly were together: we recognized it from 
back when they were first becoming adolescents; that subtle, rather 
pleasant, musky smell.  Elaine noticed it more than I did, because 
it affected her erotically.  

So we naturally assumed that now, as more or less sexually mature
young adults, they could and would probably become lovers any day 
now.  Perhaps it was irresponsible of us, but we were rather looking 
forward to them telling us how happy they were.



About 5 weeks after her return Melly spent an evening with us, she
and Elaine made a delicious Indonesian dinner together, then she 
went upstairs to sleep with Adam, even though Doug probably 
wanted her to come home.  

Early the next morning I went out to the kitchen to make some 
coffee and Melly was sitting there alone.  She was fully dressed,
jacket, shoes, and her travel backpack was on the floor beside 
her stuffed as if she was moving out.  She was not her usual 
happy self.

"Hi, Melly, you're up early!"

"Can you drive me to my Dad's?" she asked in a very sad voice.

"Uh, sure.  When do you want to go?"

"Right now.  Please."

It was obvious that something was wrong, but she was not 
volunteering any information.  We got into the car without 
speaking.  As we drove away she looked up at Adam's window 
and her tears were streaming.  As we turned out the driveway 
she looked back at the house as if for the last time ever, 
starting to sniff.

"Melly, what's wrong?" I finally asked.

"Adam and I...we broke up!"  And then the flood gates opened and 
she cried so much she couldn't talk any more, all the way into town.