Once they were home, Arnold took the borrowed tools out of the trunk and changed into old clothes, then he started working on the neighbour's hedge. If he cared about such things, he would have been pleased that Beth watched him closely the whole time to make sure that he was doing a good job and didn't hurt himself. He piled all of the branches and leaves beside his shed and worked until suppertime. He quickly ate and went back out to continue working.

Beth's hedges were nowhere near the size and length that Claire's had been, so he did all of one side of her yard and even trimmed a few overhanging branches from the tree in her yard. Once that was done, Arnold stored the tools inside the shed and stayed inside for several minutes to work, then he called the same number that Claire had to rent one of the large wood chippers. They delivered one to the end of the driveway beside the house. It was near the shed, which was perfect for his purposes, and he grabbed a box of garbage bags from the house.

He set it up properly, since he knew exactly what to do, and he started making short trips from the pile of wood beside the shed to the wood chipper. It was loud, so even Beth was discouraged from looking for very long. No one noticed the extra things Arnold added during some of his trips back and forth. He changed garbage bags frequently as they filled and he was very efficient with the work. It was all gone barely twenty minutes later and he turned off the machine.

Arnold called the number on the side of the machine and had the money ready for the man when he came to pick it up. “There are a lot of small leaves still inside.”

The man accepted the money. “Don't worry. We always wash the things out with an industrial hose to stop things from building up inside and rotting. The last thing people want to smell when renting a machine like this, is compost.”

Arnold smiled and nodded. The man hooked the wood chipper up to the back of his truck and drove away. After that, Arnold chose a few particular bags, seemingly at random, and went to the large barbecue pit he had. None of the neighbours questioned him burning the contents up, especially when he was also taking some of the other bags and spreading the mulch around Beth's hedges and bushes.

Arnold ran out of space at Beth's place and started going to the other neighbours and using their yards to dump the excess. The neighbours were getting free mulch for their bushes and trees, so they didn't object to that. Most actually appreciated him doing that for them, because he didn't have to. He could have just burned it all up instead. When he was done, Arnold went back home, finished burning up the last of the chosen bags, then he went into the house to get a shower.

“That was some great work, Arnold.” Annie said when he came in through the back door. “I'm very proud of you.”

Arnold opened his arms with a smile on his face and walked towards her.

“No! Nonono!” Annie laughed and avoided him for several moments as he pretended to chase her around the kitchen. “Get your ass upstairs and shower first!”

“Okay.” Arnold said and did so, changed into his sleeping clothes, and went back downstairs to give his mother a hug.

“That's better.” Annie said and held him tightly. “If I hadn't taken a shower already, I would have hugged you when you were all sweaty and covered in dirt.”

“I know.” Arnold said. “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too.” Annie said and gave him a quick kiss. “We can relax on the couch for a bit, then we should go to bed.”

Arnold nodded and they went into the living room and watched television for a little while. He didn't bother asking what his mother had planned for them the next day, because it didn't matter to him. He would do everything she wanted, just like he had promised himself so long ago, and he would see that beaming smile again and hear his mother's laugh.

*

“I can't believe Arnold's mother set this up for us.” Tanya, formerly One, said with a giggle. “How long do you think she's been planning it?”

“Weeks, I'd say.” Sarah, formerly Two, said and picked up the imitation golfing outfit from the box.

“More like months.” Leann, formerly Three said. She had already changed into the cute outfit and did a little twirl to make the pleated skirt flutter out. “Who goes to this length to have her son's friends go mini-golfing?”

“A mother who loves her son very much.” Francine said. She wore a similar outfit that was a surprising match to Leann's. She wasn't sure if that was coincidence or on purpose, though. Would Arnold have told his mother about her and Leann? Would she have understood it or accepted it, or is she ignoring it like Sarah and Tanya?

Francine looked at Leann's two best friends and they had been... a little uncomfortable... when she had shown up holding Leann's hand. Both she and Leann explained that they weren't gay, not in the sense that they were looking at the two other girls as sexual objects, or that Leann had always thought of them like that.

It was difficult to explain that it was only a recent development between them and that neither of them had even considered another woman as a viable person to date. Of course, Sarah and Tanya had claimed that they understood and brushed Francine's concerns aside. She was older than them and she could see the tension the girls had when they had any physical interaction with Leann.

Some people just won't understand, no matter how much you explain. Francine thought. “You should hurry up and get changed. Your boyfriends should be here to pick us up soon.”

“You're right.” Tanya said and started to unbutton her top. When she pulled it open to take it off, she caught her breath and froze. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she looked at Leann and then Francine.

Francine touched Leann's shoulder to stop her from saying something that could hurt her friendship with the other two. “Tanya, for the last time, we don't see you or Sarah as a sexual object. You could strip off completely and play with yourself in front of us, and just like Sarah, neither Leann nor myself would have the urge to join you or try to help.”

Tanya's eyes were wide and her mouth made that little 'o' of surprise, Sarah's face was bright red, and Leann covered her own mouth to stop from laughing.

“What Leann and I discovered with each other is just between us. We still like men. In fact...” Francine had to stop talking when Leann covered her mouth.

“They both know we dated Todd at the same time, or at similar times anyway.” Leann said. “If they can't accept that I want to try dating another girl after he hurt me... hurt us both... then that's their problem.” She said, wisely. “Plus, I've seen them both completely naked and they've seen me completely naked. I've never had the urge to do anything with them, for years, and they know that.”

“Is that true?” Tanya asked. “Did you never have the urge to... you know...” She looked down at her own skirt and then back at Leann.

Francine laughed. “You should have seen the look on her face when I went down on her! It was so cute! Shock, surprise, delight, and fear all mixed together.”

“F-F-Francine!” Leann blushed.

“It's all right. They need to know that what we did was as much of a surprise to us as it is to them.”

“It is?” Sarah asked, surprised. She took off her sweater and unbuttoned her jeans.

“I definitely haven't had any inclinations towards another girl until I met Leann and we...” Francine had to stop when Leann covered her mouth again.

“They don't need the details.” Leann said, her face still bright red.

Francine kissed her palm and moved her hand. “I wasn't going to tell them everything.”

“It sounded like you were.” Leann said and couldn't stop her smile. Their relationship was still in the early stages, so it was all new and exciting. She had not told her sister or her parents yet. She needed to save that for when things started getting serious.

“We can discuss it again if you want.” Francine said with a matching smile, because that was a discussion they had in the middle of sex the night before.

“Francine.” Leann whispered, her blush wasn't going away.

“I already agreed that most of what happened was only between us, until such time it either comes out on its own or someone else mentions it.” Francine said, indicating Arnold. “We both know what that means.”

Leann nodded, because she knew that Arnold wouldn't say anything unless prompted to. She thought about reminding him to not say anything, even if someone asks him directly, then shrugged mentally. If he hadn't said anything to their friends by now, he was never going to say anything.

“Were there that many people at the hotel where you confronted Todd?” Tanya asked. She was only in her bra and underwear and she observed both Leann's and Francine's eyes as she reached for the golf shirt and skirt.

“There were a few shouted comments at the time.” Francine chuckled. “Mostly encouragement.”

“No way!” Sarah asked and slipped on the knitted vest. It was bright yellow and went well with the rest of the outfit. “What did they say?”

“I believe the guy shouted something like, 'kiss her!'.” Francine said with a chuckle.

“Did you?” Tanya asked and pulled on the skirt. She was glad that her friends didn't give her the look a guy would when she was only wearing underwear.

“Are you kidding? He said it so loudly in the quiet lobby that it made us laugh.” Leann said.

“I can imagine.” Sarah said and slipped on the shoes. “It's too bad there wasn't video of the thing.”

Tanya nodded agreement. “I definitely would have liked to see the snake get caught.”

“I don't know about liking it.” Leann said. “It was more... satisfying... and heart breaking.”

Francine put her arm around her shoulders and Leann looked up at her with a look on her face that both Tanya and Sarah had seen her use when she looked up at Todd. Her two friends glanced at each other and nodded slightly.

“So, I heard that you had a full tour of where Francine works.” Tanya said to Leann as she put on the cute little golfing hat. “What is it like seeing the bowels of the museum?”

“Bowels!” Francine almost exclaimed, then all four of them laughed.

Friendships could start with jokes, too.

*

If he cared about such things, Arnold was dressed in the most garish and color uncoordinated outfit that his mother could find and put together. Annie wanted him to look just like a professional golfer, ugly checkered shorts, knee-high socks, multi-colored vest and all. She just loved shopping at thrift stores and it hadn't taken her long to put everything together.

Annie beamed a smile at him as she plopped the golfing hat on his head. “You look perfect!”

“Thank you.” Arnold said and gave her a hug and a quick kiss.

“I'm glad I could find enough to make my outfit match yours.” Annie said. “I hope you'll be my partner on the course, assuming no one else claims you first.”

“You just claimed me.” Arnold said and Annie chuckled.

“I guess I did.” Annie said. “We better go. The tee-off time is at ten o'clock.”

Arnold nodded and they left the house. When they approached the car, they heard a loud creak.

“You two look adorable!” Beth said as she stood up from her porch swing.

“You look like you're enjoying a public cup of tea.” Annie responded.

Beth laughed and raised the cup up in a salute. “I've taken to doing this for an hour on the weekends. Keeping an eye out and all that.”

“You don't have to do that.” Annie said. “But, thank you.”

“It's no trouble.” Beth took a sip of her tea. “Arnold, the hedges on this side of the yard look great.”

“I'll do the rest next weekend.” Arnold said.

“I'll see what I can do for you next weekend to thank you.” Beth said. “Something in the kitchen, I think.”

“Okay.” Arnold said. He and his mother drove over to the mini-golf place and met several other vehicles there. All of the doors opened, as if they were all waiting for them to arrive, and almost two dozen people got out and stood up at the same time as Annie and Arnold did.

“Oh, my GOD!” Annie yelled and started laughing. Her eyes almost hurt at all of the different golfing outfits that all the teenagers and a few adults were wearing. Of course, her happy laughter was infectious and it spread out to cover everyone and they all laughed, too.

“I'm glad you are enjoying our collective embarrassment.” Francine said as everyone gathered together in a group.

“I do! I really do!” Annie said and dabbed at her happy tears. “You are all so great for doing this.”

“Well, it's the last time we can all get together for a while.” Leann said. “Even my sister came with us, despite my shouting and arguing that Nicole had no business coming along.”

That made Annie laugh again and the sister in question came over.

“Hey, this was a brilliant idea.” Nicole said and looked over everyone. “I've never seen such a spectacular eye assault before.”

“That was exactly what I was going for.” Annie said, her eyes twinkling. “Everyone is going to remember this.”

“It's burning into my brain, that's for sure.” Nicole said and then she turned and saw Arnold. “So, you're the famous Arnold.” She said and stepped close as she held out a hand. “I'm Nicole, Leann's slightly older sister.”

“By like three months.” Leann said and rolled her eyes.

“You weren't in school.” Arnold said as he took her hand and shook it. He did a little flicking and rubbing on her wrist with a fingertip and Nicole's eyes widened at the blatant and subtle flirting.

“I was at another institution for a while.” Nicole said and gazed into his eyes as she let his hand go. “I came back home to go to college.”

“Before you ask, she liked the look of the other school better and went there instead.” Leann said.

“I like aesthetics.” Nicole said with a shrug. “So sue me.”

Several people chuckled.

“Come on, let's get registered and figure out who's teaming up or if we're all playing for ourselves.” Someone said.

“With this many of us? I'd say teams.” Wayne said and put an arm around Sarah. “I've got my partner.”

Everyone quickly divided up, even the parents that had come along, and it left Nicole all alone.

“She can come with us.” Annie said, to Leann's and Nicole's surprise.

“I thought I would just hang around and...” Nicole started to say.

“No one is going to be left out of the fun today.” Annie said. “Arnold, you're responsible for that.”

“Okay.” Arnold said.

Oh, damn. She's going to steal him. Leann thought as she watched Nicole's hand being taken by Arnold and they walked off.

“It's okay.” Francine whispered to her.

“But...” Leann sighed. “I guess there's nothing we can do about it.”

“We could warn him about using a condom.” Francine whispered.

Leann looked up at her girlfriend. “Wh-what? You don't think...”

“If my observation skills are still up to snuff, then I'd say that by the time we are all the way through the course, Arnold is going to be all the way through her.” Francine said. “You know what he can do.”

Leann blinked her eyes for a moment, then she chuckled. “I guess we better catch up to them before he gets her motor going.”

“That would be a good idea.” Francine said and bent down to give her a quick kiss, then they walked hand in hand after their quarry.