"Of all the times that bitch could show up. It's the captain of the team we face in the state finals. Her name's Natalie Skaggs. I've been lucky never to meet her before. I can't believe people say we look alike."
Skaggs? That was the last name of Natasha's beloved grandmother, god rest her soul. The last thing Natasha's grandmother did was design for Natasha a wedding dress, which Natasha indeed wore at that wedding. I looked at my beautiful daughter Nicole. Some thirty minutes ago we had completed our first sexual experience together. She was my first sex partner, other than my right hand, in over seventeen years, when my wife Natasha took Nicole's identical twin sister Natalie with her. Could this Natalie Skaggs be MY Natalie? I began to get up.
"NO! Daddy! What if she peers in and sees you naked?" Nicole threw one of the afghans we had on the couch over me, and then proceeded to open the door.
"What are you doing here?"
"Coach said that the team captains should meet. I don't know why I should have to deal with someone as untalented as you. Your team must be pretty pathetic if you are their star player."
"Get the hell off my property."
Her property? It reminded me of something author Marc MacYoung once said that men's homes are not their castles; they are just tolerated there. Even though I am the father and the fourth generation to live in the house, somehow the female, even if the fifth generation, thinks she runs it. Then again, Nicole always had me wrapped around her finger, so she vey well may run it.
Upon the slamming of the door I stood up to peer outside, using the afghan to cover my nakedness in case the unforeseen occurred. Nicole had some of my old temper (old age has tempered my temper, as it were). Save for the hairstyle and difference in color of clothes, they were much alike. They were the same height, the same long legs, the same perky breasts, and the same perfect butt. I understood Nicole's feelings over a rival showing up at the worst of times, but I started to cry. This could be my missing Natalie, at one time only seconds away, and here she is forced by Nicole to leave on the motorcycle she rode on. Wait a minute. A motorcycle? If that was indeed my Natalie, why in the hell would Natasha let a young girl have her own motorcycle?
"Daddy, I told you to stay put. What if she saw you?"
"She'd think you have a kept man, even if he's older than you."
Nicole gave me a face that only a teenager who couldn't believe what her father just said could give. "Go to bed, daddy. I'll fix supper. I hope you have your antacids, old man; I'm fixing my variation of Granny's old chili recipe." She noticed that tears had run over my cheeks. "What's wrong, daddy?"
I came up with a half-truth. "I was just thinking how wonderful that day of November 18, 1990, was to me."
As she left for the kitchen she gave an innocent butterfly kiss to my cheek, then a second later did a not so innocent caress of my testicles with the back of her hand. "You're sweet, daddy."
Two days passed quickly, and to misquote Charles Dickens, it was my best and worst of my times. It was the best due to having a pretty girl sleeping naked with me two nights in a row, with the benefits of being next to a pretty girl in bed who loved me coming to me. However, it was the worst as I came so close to reconnecting with my missing daughter, only for it to be snapped from me.
It was the night of the state championship. Seeing twelve young girls in fierce athletic competition in tight shorts that did little to hide their athletic legs must be the main reason all the men in the gymnasium were there. But for me there were only two girls I looked at. They had different team uniforms, but with their hair kept back as the norm for volleyball players the different uniforms were the only difference. Being the father of the star player of the home team had its perks, as it meant I sat with the team on their bleacher. Seeing both Nicole's and Natalie's movements side by side I had little doubt that Natalie was my daughter as well. They both had the best bumps, sets, and spikes of their respective teams. At the times they were directly across from each other I feared they would kill each other with their spikes. They hadn't met in over seventeen years, and as far as they knew they had never met each other, but their obvious hatred for each other was tremendous. They were near equals on the floor. How I was able to restrain myself whenever Natalie did a killer move I'll never know. However, as good as my girls were, Nicole's team was better. They had more experience. I joined in the celebration of the home team's victory, but after turning my head to see Natalie's look of frustration killed me inside.
"Daddy, we won." Nicole exclaimed as she jumped in my arms.
"Yes, honey, you did."
The festivities lasted an hour. I was delayed in leaving the building by receiving congratulations from other parents on how well my Nicole played. Walking out of the building I heard a ruckus.
"YOU SORRY CUNT HOW DARE YOU HURT MY BIKE!"
"I DIDN'T TOUCH YOUR BIKE; I WOULDN'T TOUCH A LOSER'S BIKE! IT MIGHT JINX ME!"
I ran to the scene. Even through the area was filled with onlookers, I saw what the problem was. Someone vandalized Natalie's motorcycle, and she was understandably pissed. She blamed her rival Nicole, and those fierce tempers scared even the adult supervisors away. I sighed, reflecting on how both girls had my old temper. I saw that I would have to be the one to quell both of the tall tempestuous titian-haired amazons.
"BOTH OF YOU, CALM DOWN!" I quickly had to devise a solution. "Nicole, hun, go celebrate with your team. Natalie, hun, some of the other men will help me put your bike into my trunk, and I will take you home."
Nicole screamed, "WHY WOULD YOU CALL HER 'HUN'?"
Oops, I slipped. I guess it was possible Natalie wasn't my missing daughter, but I doubted it. "Nicole, go celebrate."
The bike was too big for the trunk, but one of the fathers nearby was a mechanic, so I told him to take it to his shop and I would guarantee payment. I guided Natalie to my Malibu, opened the door for her, then got into the car myself, and drove off.