"Great, I was expecting that call. Thank you, George." Colt turned to follow George back to the lodge, but noticed Luke was following him. Turning back he said, "Luke this is sort of a private call unless you need to go back for some other reason?" He smiled at his son.

While Colt was talking to Luke everyone started screaming, "STOP … WATCH OUT… "

It was too late. George had stepped into one of the open holes in the ice, and as he fought to keep from going under, all anyone could hear was, "Fuck … glub … glub … glub…

Chapter 8

With a worried look on his face, Colt turned to see George slipping beneath the water in one of the holes that was almost crusted over with ice. It was one that someone moved from, about an hour or so earlier. This made it almost an inch thick of new ice but not enough to hold up a person. Joel and Aaron ran over to the hole Mr. Bailey had fallen into and looked to see if they could see him, but he was nowhere in sight. Everyone was running up, and a million questions were being asked. "Can we drop a rope down?", "Would he grab it if we do?", "Can we just hook him and bring him up?" All were good questions, but nothing could be done; it was too cold for anyone to dive for him, and it would damage him if they tried to grapple-hook him, and the water there was over a hundred feet deep.

It was decided that as soon as the ice melted and they could get a diver in, they could get him out and bring him back to the ranch where they could repair him without any trouble. His memory was hard memory and would not be lost, and the rest of him would be just fine, once he was dried out and his batteries recharged.

Someone said, "Hell, he's just a robot."

Colt yelled out, "No he's not! But he will be ok soon as we get him back." Then after making sure everyone knew it would be ok, he laughed as he walked back toward the lodge for his phone call.

The others milled around chatting about poor old Mr. Bailey.

Joel said, "I hope he'll be ok; we sure will miss him. He does so much of the work, and helps with all … SORTS … of things around the lodge." Joel winked at Aaron and giggled.

Aaron simply nodded his head in agreement. "Yep, he certainly does a lot around here, I think it's time to call this fishin' trip off, and get our butt's back into that nice warm lodge. How do you all feel about that?" He was still giggling at Joel's last remarks.

Earl and Jack were already finished and were walking back toward the dockside building to put up their gear. Kevin and Jerry followed dragging along the sled with the blankets and other equipment. The twins were playing follow the leader with the old folks, as they often referred to them.

As they all began to enter the lodge, they saw Colt on the phone talking to someone, "Thanks, that’ll be great!" He finished, then hung up the phone, then turned to see everyone entering the lodge. "Everyone quit fishing for the day?" he asked of no one in particular.

Joel responded by saying, "Yep, everyone kind of lost interest when ol' George fell through the ice. But you said he would be ok, didn't you?"

"Sure he will be. I know we made him waterproof; he will just shut himself down to save his power. But 'GEORGE' will be just fine!" Colt said that loud enough for everyone who had just come in out of the cold to hear him clearly.

"It was funny, though," Joel said with an evil grin.

"Sure was!" Earl agreed.

Julie and Jo were standing by the table next to the fireplace where they had helped the kitchen staff prepare some goodies for the frozen fishermen. Neither Julie nor Jo wanted to "freeze their tits off" as they said the night before. Staying behind to mess with just the goodies they were not cooking; that was for the kitchen staff of the lodge. But that didn't stop them from dabbling with THEIR 'goodies', as they called them.

At the table were hot cider, hot coffee, hot eggnog, and hot chocolate for the frozen gang as they entered. Not to mention the fruitcake. "We have hot drinks here and of course cookies and fruitcake for all you Fruits," Jo said with a laugh that had everyone chuckling at her remark.

The twins were the last coming in out of the cold. In unison, they said, "Where's the EGGNOG?" Both were grinning from ear to ear. They were having fun and the vacation seemed to them as something wonderful.

"OVER HERE!" someone yelled from the table next to the fireplace.

Everyone gathered around the warmth of the blazing fire and found places to sit, while Joel stood up, moved to a place in front of the table. "Ok, you guys, how many want to know the results of the fishing contest?"

Several people yelled, "NO!" while others yelled "YES!" The yes-sayers were obviously the winners or the ones who thought they had won.

"Well, I'll tell you anyway, so there!" Joel chuckled and began, "The biggest was caught by Colt. The first was caught by Earl. The most were taken by Andrew, he caught eight nice ones. Now for the littlest!" he was holding up his hand and wiggling his little finger as he continued, "it was also Andrew, but maybe it should have been, Jack!" Everyone roared. "Now I will turn the floor over to Mike so he can tell you what the prizes will be." Joel looked at Mike and motioned him to come to the front.

Mike spoke up quickly, saying, "I'll tell you what the prizes are after dinner tonight, I just hope everyone is willing to accept them." He gave everyone an evil grin as he glanced around the room.

"Come on, POPS," Matt said. "Tell us what they are now!"

"Matt, you're worse than your sons; I'll tell y'all later. I don't know about you guys but I'm going back for more goodies." He glared at Jo and Julie and then just smiled at everyone else as he and Andrew got up and headed back to the table for refills.

Joel spoke up again saying, "Dinner will be served at seven, about an hour from now, so we don't have too long to wait." He was laughing at Mike's comments about his boys and the girls.

It was dark outside and the lights were all ready on, including the Christmas decorations, and again the place looked like it was taken right out of a Christmas card, when there was a huge commotion on the front porch. 'No, not Santa and the Reindeer.' It was poor old George Bailey stomping, trying to knock off the ice and snow as he came in the front door. As he came through the door he said, "Damn, it's cold in that fucking water."

Everyone was shocked but, more than shocked, they were electrified and began laughing at the sight in front of them. He looked like the Abominable Snowman coated with ice; he had icicles hanging from his hair, from his nose, from his eye lashes, and his pants looked like black boards that hadn't been cleaned after school. His pants also were form fitted around his legs. His face was covered with flakes of ice, and he was grumbling to himself.

Everyone started laughing out loud, and Colt spoke first, "Are you ok, GEORGE?"

"I'm fine, just cold as a witch's tit in winter." George began to chuckle as he stood in front of the huge mirror and saw himself.

"Come over here," Julie said with a grin, "Let me give you something nice and hot to warm you up."

George moved over in front of the fire as Julie kissed him on the cheek making him blush. Handing him a cup of hot spiked cider, she said, "Here ya go, Georgie Boy."

Colt began to check him over. "You look ok, George, but I think you need to go get a hot shower and get into some dry clothes."

"Sounds like a good idea," George said, as he kept trying to shake off the icicles and snow.

Someone asked, "How the hell did you get out of the lake?"

George looked around and calmly said, "I used the crowbar I found on the bottom, and dug my way out from under the ice. I had to walk on the bottom toward the lodge until I found the beach area and then I just chipped away at the ice until I was free. The crowbar is down by the lake. I want to keep that thing and throw it back in the lake in case I ever need it again." Then he began laughing so hard everyone else had to join in.

Mike said, "Well, George, I like the new look, but don't you think you should go get warmed, and out of them cold wet clothes?"

"Yep; excuse me. I think I'm going to go take a long hot shower if you don't mind, JOEL?" George asked.

"Not at all, buddy!" a chuckling Joel replied.

George quickly turned and headed for his room on the first floor back behind the main office of the lodge. It was a nice room and had its own bathroom, along with a small living room and bedroom.

"Good, he will be just fine! See, even his sense of humor is still in tact!" Colt said with a roaring laugh that was very catchy; everyone, even Julie and Jo, were now laughing uncontrollably.

Matt spoke up jokingly and said, "I wonder if he's got a lonnng icicle hanging from something inside those frozen legs of his trousers?  Now you all know that we wouldn't be talking like this if he was a real human, but it is fun to have an Android to poke fun at."

The lobby simply roared with laughter…

♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂

Dinner had been served and devoured and everyone was just milling around the lobby waiting for Mike to come in and tell them what their prizes would be. I knew already, and so did James, JC, and even Richard, and we all agreed it was going to be a good time for all that night, and of course we also knew about what was up with that phone call of Colt's, but we're not telling.

Mike moved up to stand in front of the fireplace and glanced around the room, he noticed everyone had stopped chatting and were now starring at him.

"Ok, Dad, spill the beans!" Colt yelled out.

"Come on, Mike, it's time for the prizes to be announced," Earl chimed in.

"OK. OK." Mike stated, then seemed to be thinking again before he said, "First, I have a question for all of you, and it's an important one." He paused again, then continued, "Everyone here has a partner, and you all have commitments to them, so if you don't like my idea, tell us your thoughts as soon as I am finished, please." He then paused again looking around the room for the first reaction.

After a few minutes passed he noticed everyone had moved over closer to their partner and waited for him to continue.

"Ok, I'll tell you my idea, but I want anyone that has a problem with it to speak up." Then he began to tell them his idea, by saying, "I think that the winner of the First fish should have first pick, of someone else's partner to share the night with; this means that the winner not only gets that person, but gets the pair of them, to pair up with the winner and his partner for a night of fun. Then the person who caught the Biggest fish gets second choice of the remaining couples, then the winner of the Most fish, and Littlest fish gets third choice." He paused again letting it sink in before asking, "Do we have anyone that is not at ease with this proposal?" He had a very evil little grin on his lips as he waited for an answer to the question.

There was a lot of chit-chat in the room between partners, even the twins who were not yet committed were talking about Mike's prizes.

"We're for it!" Earl and Jack agreed, then waited before Earl would say who they wanted to share the night with.

"Count us in! Both Jerry and I are for it," came the reply from Kevin

Mike and Andrew had already made up their minds before Mike offered the prizes, but Andrew said, "Mike and I are for it."

"You're not leaving us out; we aren't committed yet, but we're still a couple!" said Luke. "Both Mark and I, that is!"

Joel and Aaron looked at the rest of the room full of their family and friends. "Both of us," Aaron said, holding his index fingers about a foot apart, "are in for the long haul, guys … the REALLY lonnng haul."

More laughter issued from the fishermen.

Matt looked at Colt and said, "Well, Hon, that just leaves us. I'm in for a fun night; how about you?"

Colt just said, "Hell ya; you're not leaving me outta this!?  Fuck this cast!"  He fisted the air.

"Well, it's agreed upon then. I know Julie and Jo were not part of the contest and they have already told me they would not like to be part of this, so Earl, you pick your partners for the night," Mike grinned and told the group.

Earl looked at Mark and said, "Want to join Jack and me for the night? I pick you guys." He had that evil little grin that was Earl's trademark, so to speak.

"Sure thing, let's go!" Mark said, pulling Luke up from the couch and headed toward Earl and Jack as they excused themselves and dashed for Earl and Jack's room, ripping their shirts off, dropping them helter-skelter along the way, amid hoots and whistles and shouts of encouragement from the others.

"Ok, Colt it's your pick now," Mike said.

"We pick Joel and Aaron; you willing, guys?" Colt snickered as he pulled on Matt's hand lifting him off the chair.

"No problem; we're ready to travel anywhere you want us to go!" Aaron said with a wicked little smirk as Joel just got up and grabbed Aaron by the arm and led him toward the master suite. They were followed by Colt and Matt, with Aaron leading the way toward their room.

Mike said, "Andrew, hon, it's up to you now." He laughed because he noticed the two hottest guys—besides his own sons—were still remaining.

"Kevin, will you and Jerry join us for the night?" Andrew asked.

Knowing who their partners were going to be for the night, they were really excited about it; for many years they had admired and kind of lusted over those two hot guys, knowing all along they were in a very close relationship with their sons. Kevin looked at Jerry and motioned for him to speak for them. Jerry just got up and said, "What you two waiting for? Come on and join us in our private cabin next to the lodge.

Mike and Andrew got up and followed Kevin and Jerry out of the lodge toward their cute and cozy cabin for a hot night.

♂♂♂♂♂♂♂♂

The next morning, or should I say the next afternoon—for none of the guys were up before noon the next day—something tells me there was some jolly ole elves running around the lodge last night. It seems everyone as they came down the stairs, or in from their cabin, had huge grins and were full of Christmas cheer.

There was a big brunch buffet set up for them in the dining room. They all seemed to have got up and were milling around at roughly the same time; none moved to the lobby right away. Finally they all started to arrive about noonish. Mike, Andrew, Kevin, and Jerry were the first into the dining room. They each got some hot coffee and sat around the big table and began chatting away.

Soon they were joined by Earl, Jack, Mark, and Luke, all of them were sporting smiles and looked so very happy.

"Hi, Granddads," the twins echoed each other.

"Hi, boys; did you enjoy your night?" Mike asked with a snicker.

"Of course we did," Luke exclaimed with a shit-eating grin, and then he began to blush, quickly grabbing a cup of hot coffee, pulling up a chair at the table.

Mark just grabbed a glass of OJ, saying, "What's on for the day?" after overhearing what had been discussed with the folks gathered around the table, trying to change the subject.  He was a little em-bare-assed.

Mike was looking for Joel or Aaron but couldn't find them, and said, "I think Joel or Aaron said something about a snowmobile ride somewhere today. But to look at the time I think it might have to be put off until tomorrow." He glanced a look at the twins for their reaction.

"NO WAY!" Luke blurted out, "It's Christmas tomorrow and I'm going to stay here and open my presents!" He now was starring at Mike with a cute, 'don't make me do it, Granddad' look.

Mark just laughed at his brother, and repeated his comment by saying, "Yep, I can't wait to see what I'm getting."

Andrew said, "What makes you think 'Santa' will be bringing you anything?" As he said that, he was poking Mark in the side, then looked at Mark and said, "Don't laugh at your brother, or 'Santa' won't be bringing you anything either."

About this time Colt, Matt, Joel, and Aaron walked in together; they all had warm and sexy smiles on their faces. Joel spoke up saying, "I don't think you have to worry about the snowmobile ride today or tomorrow. We can do it after Christmas, so stop worrying about it, guys. We don't want you to miss 'Santa'."  As they were coming down the stairs, he had overheard the twins complaining.

"Good morning, everyone, and yes … you, too, boys!" Colt said with an evil little smile, then continued, "I have a surprise for you all, and no one knows about it, not even Matt." He leaned over and kissed Matt, then whispered into his ear, "Don't even try to bribe me. You're not going to find out any faster than the boys are!"

Matt just pushed him out of the way and got his coffee saying, "Just for that, get your own coffee, 'Lame Duck'!" Then he broke up laughing so hard his headache started to come back. A grimacing sigh escaped him as he was forced to stop laughing. It was evident to everyone who was looking at him that he was indeed hurting, by laughing so hard.

Mark asked, "Pop, can I get you anything? Are you ok?" You could see he was worried. He wasn't alone in that worry either; his brother and others around the room were as well.

Joel spoke up and said, "Why don't we just call this a personal day, and just enjoy the great company we have?" He could sense the family's worry about Matt's continuing headaches.

Aaron simply said, "You bet, it's so nice to have you all here for the holidays. I don't know about anyone else, I can only speak for myself. I'M HAVING A BLAST, with y'all here."

"Well, thanks, Aaron, I think I'm speaking for all of the family when I say we are totally enjoying ourselves as well," Colt responded as he glanced around the table, then he continued by saying, "Thanks for the wonderful prizes, Dad!" as he looked at Mike with a sexy little smile and licked his lips.

Mike just smiled back and simply asked, "Well, did everyone enjoy the prizes you got for the fishing contest?" He was carefully checking the expressions and funny looks he was getting from the group around the table as they each more or less continued to chow down on whatever they were chewing on at the moment. Continuing, he said, "Well, it looks like your mouths are still working fine!  And everybody seems to be walking without any trouble, today, so I conclude that every BODY is just fine."

Colt was sipping his coffee when Mike's remarks had him spit his coffee all over the table to keep from choking on, from laughter.

It was indeed a funny moment for even James and I were laughing so hard. JC couldn't even speak, while Richard just grinned.

Luke and Matt were trying to hide under the table; physically they were just acting like they wanted to crawl under the table, but in really were just putting on a big show for the rest of the folks.

Luke, laughing so hard, he had to just chuckle out his remarks, "It … were … just too much funin', thanks, Gramps!"

"Aaron and Joel just smiled. Joel said, "Thanks, Mike, it was great fun for both of us! We'll have to do this more often."  Then he winked at Mike.

Jerry was blushing a bright pink and Kevin was poking him in the side and said, "We had fun too, and we enjoyed our company … Thanks, Mike, and you, too, Andrew! It was fantastic, much more than we had been dreaming of."

Now it was Mike's turn to be embarrassed about the exchange, but good ol' Mike told everyone, "We all had fun, and no one got their feelings hurt. That is the most important part of the contest."

Luke spoke up saying, "What the... " at the sound of a jet plane going over. "Hell! Is that… I thought we had this place to ourselves for the week?"

Joel simply said, "The place is closed. It might be someone in trouble. They do use the airfield for emergency landings. I'll just go check it out." Joel and Aaron got up and headed for the front door of the lodge.

George was already on the front porch watching the plane as it approached. "Who is that?" George asked.

By this time it seemed like everyone had got up and headed out onto the porch; it was very cold so many just stepped back inside and watched through the windows the best they could. The windows were still iced up with the extreme cold weather.

"Looks like a Boeing executive jet," Kevin yelled out over the sound of the jet's engines as it approached for a landing.

Soon it had landed and taxied up to the small hanger on the field, stopping its engines while the crowd looked on.

"Come on, everybody, get your warm coats on, and follow me!" Colt yelled and waved at everyone to follow him out to the field. "If it's what I think it is, we need to be outside right away."

Everybody headed out to meet the plane, but more important was … the twins had donned their parkas and passed everyone heading for the small jet. Colt and Matt followed along; Mike, Andrew, Jerry, Joel, Aaron, and even George wanted to see what was happening.

Before the twins could get to the small jet they were stopped dead in their tracks, as they looked up into the crisp cold blue sky, to see a much larger jet approaching from the distance. They both turned around quickly seeing their dads standing right behind them.

Luke asked, "What the hell is going on here, POP? That looks like Buckaroo coming." He was so nervous, but excited as well that he and his brother were both jumping around like they had ants in their pants.

"YES, POPS, WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Mark yelled out over the sound of what he thought to be 'Buckaroo' as it touched down at the far end of the runway.

"That's not 'Buckaroo'; it's a newer plane!" Kevin shouted out.

"IT'S NOT?" exclaimed Luke, "Then what is it?"

"OH, MY GOD!" Mark yelled out, "THE NAME ON THE NOSE IS 'COWBOY II'."

Mark ran up to Luke and the pair ran to their dads and hugged them so tight that Colt's cast got in the way, so they maneuvered around quickly and continued the hug. But it didn't take long for the twins to begin crying as they saw the new 'Cowboy' taxiing in to the large hanger. They were overwhelmed at the sight, nevertheless they were happy, so very happy to see him alive and flying again…

As Cowboy stopped and the engines shut down, Colt said, "Now for the next surprise…."

To be continued…

Feedback always welcome:     

Darryl's Notes:  Well that was quite a good chapter. I wonder just what the big surprise is.

Oh well, I think it is very exciting that they now have a new plane to replace Cowboy.

I'm very glad that George got out of the lake safely. He is quite a resourceful person.  By the way, since he is sentient, he is not just a Robot. He is a fully functional Android. 

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

 Posted: 10/31/08