School Days

by Ed Nelson

  Dad’s brother Ross and his family joined us for dinner. After dinner the adults played Euchre, men against women. From the noise you would have thought they were fighting. We kids got a pool tournament going in the basement. As usual Denny and Eddie dominated the table.

  Occasionally we would hear, “You so and so,” from Mum.

  Aunt Minnie was less refined, “Jack you are a SOB!”

  From all the carrying on by the ladies I thought they were losing like crazy. Later I found out they had won two out of three games.

  My cousin Ross Junior was known as Bud for some reason. Anyway Bud told me the roller rink had finished its conversion to plastic. He told me that it was wonderful. You could actually talk to people. Also the plastic was smoother than the old wood so you didn’t trip as much. He told me to try it as soon as possible. I thanked him and told him I would.

  Bud and I while cousins weren’t that close. We played together when our families visited, but we didn’t go out of our way to see each other. He went to Lewistown High School where he was taking shop. We really had little in common. Still if I saw him in trouble I would be there to help, he was family.

  That night The Wart pulled the sword out of the rock. If only life was that easy.

  New Year’s Eve was clear and cold. The skating pond would start freezing again. It probably hadn’t thawed completely anyway. I ran again and it still was miserable.

  I made the mistake of taking a deep breath while running and I thought my chest was on fire. It was cold enough that the hair in my nose had frozen. That was a weird feeling.

  I was starting to look forward to going out to California at the end of the month to start the movie. At least it would be warm.

  The day was going slow so I asked if I could walk down to Don’s for lunch. Mary was being a little monster, so Mum told me that I could go if she went with me. That worked for everyone.

  Mary and I bundled up and headed out. She skipped along happy as a clam now that she was out of the house. When we got to Don’s it wasn’t quite full so we were able to sit at a table. That worked out well. Mary was an instant hit with all the girls.

  Groups rotated to our table and back to their own. I think we were all so bored that any new face, even a four year old was a novelty. I kept watch but Cheryl didn’t show up. That was a shame.

  In the meantime Mary figured out she could cause some commotion by asking each girl that came over if she was my girlfriend.

  This caused a lot of red faces and denials. Especially for those girls whose boyfriends were with them.

  In a pause between groups Mary said, “I know they aren’t your girlfriend that’s Cheryl, but it is fun to make their faces red.”

  What a little snot!

  As we were walking back up the long hill home Mary said, “That was fun we will have to do that again.”

  I thought, not bloody likely. Half way home she was lagging so I picked her up, and carried her, the rest of the way. When we got home I laid her on her bed.

  Mum asked me how it went. I told her that it went well, except she delighted in embarrassing me and all the girls there by asking me if they were my girlfriend. Mum thought this was funny.

  Chapter 43

  We had dinner reservations at the country club at seven o’clock so I ate a snack of peanut butter and jelly at five so I wouldn’t starve to death. That was much more likely than catching my death.

  After that I got cleaned up and put on my best suit and tie. Dad and I were waiting on Mum to finish up. She came in asking Dad to help her with her necklace. I looked up at her and had to stop and think; that is my Mum!

  In the little black dress she looked gorgeous. I did some quick math and realized she is thirty nine years old and looks great.

  She had a black case in her hand. It was a long flat jewelry box. She handed it to Dad who opened it to reveal a pearl necklace. It was what they called a triple strand.

  I asked if I could look at them. Dad handed me the strand. The pearls were white with an almost mirror like luster to them. Mum told me they are a matched set at ten mm. These are South Sea saltwater pearls.

  I looked at them closely and realized that some of them had small bumps on them. I asked about that and was assured that this was the sign of a real pearl.

  “These look very expensive. Where did you get them?”

  She showed me the back of the box. It had Boodles, Bond Street, London England.

  “It was a gift from a friend.”

  The way she said it told me there would be no more. From the look on Dads face he wasn’t bothered at all about it. So I guess it wasn’t some other guy. Now what friend might Mum have had that could afford to give away high end jewelry?

  We put on our hats and coats and left for dinner. Mrs. Hernandez wasn’t back from Miami, so a high school girl was hired to babysit. I was really surprised when Eleanor Price showed up at the door.

  I told her I thought she would have a date for tonight. She told me that she hadn’t a boyfriend since Steve’s death and could use the money. She would make at least five dollars tonight.

  At the club it was like old home week. Mr. Hastings the manager met us at the door with a warm greeting. He had us step into his office for a minute and gave us a group of membership cards.

  Each member of the family now could use the golf course, swimming pool or tennis courts at our leisure. We were led to our table by Kelly the hostess that I had met on my earlier visits.

  We had barely sat down when Doctor Costin came over with his wife and welcomed us to the club for our first meal as members. Until our meal was actually served there was a small parade of people stopping by to say hello.

  I was a little surprised by how many of the business people in the community knew my parents. We weren’t really singled out for all these visits. I think every group stopped at every table. There must be a party going on.

  After dessert we had coffee while Dad smoked one of his ever fewer cigarettes. There were enough people smoking that you could see a haze forming near the ceiling. A young lady came to the table.

  She had a tray suspended from her neck with a strap. She had on black short shorts with a red blouse and was wearing fish net stockings with high heels. She was giving away sample packs of Camels.

  I guess Dad and I looked at her too long because Mum said, “Like what you see boys?”

  I came back with, “She is wearing red and black our school colors.”

  Dad came up with, “Yeah I admire school spirit.”

  “You two are so full of it! But she is elegant looking.”

  “No Peg, you are elegant, she might be cute or even pretty but you are the elegant one.”

  Nice save Dad!

  At the next table they were smoking cigars and they really stank up the place. I think they should restrict them to outdoors. Mum commented that she would have to send all of our clothes to the drycleaner after this to remove the smoke. It would also decay the threads if left too long.

  If it would cause threads to decay no wonder it wasn’t good for your lungs. I noticed that Doctor Costin was really careful about smoking, he only used a pipe.

  We moved to the ball room. It was really a large meeting room that could be used for dancing. They rented it out for various functions. I noticed a table full of teenagers so I pointed it out to my parents and they said, “Go.”

  Wonder of wonders, Cheryl was there. She seemed a little cool at first. I picked up on the fact that I made the last person at the table, and until I arrived Cheryl was the only unescorted girl at the table. Maybe I should have called her?

  I apologized to her for not calling. I didn’t know this could be a date. She admitted that she didn’t know until yesterday, and then she thought it was too late to make certain that I asked her out.

  I must have got the deer in the headlights look because she said, “You are goofy. It’s my job to keep these things straight.”

  Now there were many assumptions and questions
piled into that statement that I did the smart thing. I asked her if she wanted a soft drink. They were running a cash bar for alcohol, but I found out the mixers were free.

  I knew everyone at the table. The most familiar were Tom and Tracy. They had been together since Homecoming. Does that mean they are engaged? Tom mentioned he heard I had a little excitement at the ice pond.

  I then had to fill everyone in on Sam Butler and his Moped. I also told them about the trip to Mr. Hick’s office.

  One of the other kids there, Jim Traul, Judge Traul’s son said, “That lawyer is bad news. The betting at the courthouse is that he will end up disbarred.”

  I noticed that Mum and Dad were sitting at a table with Colonel and Mrs. Hawthorne along with the Mayor and his wife. Doctor Costin and spouse were there also. My parents were doing fine for their first visit to the country club.

  We talked for a while more and the band started. It was a ten piece band that played the music from the 1940’s. They were pretty good. I danced all the slow dances with Cheryl and a few of the fast ones. Some of the older people in their thirties could really jitterbug. They played some rock and roll but somehow the sound wasn’t the same.

  I started out dancing a couple of inches from Cheryl. Before the night was over she was clinging to me and I held her tight. She didn’t seem to notice my embarrassing reaction to holding her so close so I ignored it also.

  At Midnight we kissed. It was a rather deep and long kiss. It was so nice we tried it several more times. I decided that I really liked kissing Cheryl.

  We danced several more slow dances with my hands dropping lower on her back. She didn’t seem to mind at all. As the song went, “Put your head on my shoulder.”

  Both sets of parents, hers and mine came over and said it was time to leave.

  The Colonel asked Dad, “Jack, do you think we should get a bucket of ice water for these two?”

  “Not a bad idea Jim.”

  Talk about ruining a mood!

  I helped Cheryl get her coat and we sneaked in a good night kiss. At least I think we sneaked it in. All four parents were smirking when we came out of the coat closet.

  Mrs. Hawthorne started humming a song. When I recognized it I really blushed deep red. The tune was the new Connie Francis hit, “Lipstick on your collar.”

  When we got home I headed right to my bathroom and checked my collar. There was no lipstick. She had got me!

  I was too wound up to sleep right away even though it was later than I usually stayed up. Dad was taking Eleanor home so I talked to Mum about the evening. She told me they had a really good time and that she was so proud of Dad. He didn’t drink anything or even hint that he might like to.

  She told me, “Your Dad didn’t drink much until after the Battle of the Bulge. He never talks about it but it must have been bad. Up until then his war wasn’t that bad. He was in the Military Police guarding the Cheltenham airdrome. When the Huns offensive started they called up everyman they could. Even the cooks and bakers were given rifles and sent to the front.”

  “You were only a couple of months old at the time and I was more worried than any other time during the war. Fortunately he came through all right and in April was returned to England. He got a promotion to Captain during that time and the Silver Star along with his Purple Heart.”

  I had seen both those medals, he called them his, “I forgot to duck, and then I got pissed off, medals.”

  He never said what actually happened for him to receive them. He did have a scar down his side that was like a long slice. There were also two puckers on his left arm. They were on both sides like bullets had gone through without hitting bone.

  Dad got home, we all agreed that we had a wonderful time and then went to bed. I was so tired that I didn’t care if the knight did run off with the Queen. I wondered about his name, was it a dirty little joke about the knight being a randy bugger? That would be normal for Anglo Saxon humor. They were pretty bawdy.

  Chapter 44

  New Year’s Day was a traditional day at our house. We watch the Rose Parade, the Rose Bowl and all the other bowls being broadcast. Ohio State didn’t make any of the bowls this year so that was disappointing.

  We rooted for Iowa against California. If it had been Michigan playing for the Big Ten we would have rooted for the other guys. There is no bias in this house; hatred is a more accurate description when it comes to Michigan and football.

  The best part of the Rose Parade is the segments where they show the floats being made. That was really interesting. It would have been nice to see them in color. Dad told us he had read in Popular Mechanics that a few programs were being broadcast in color but you needed a special television set.

  These were very expensive and the color not that great. We would wait till prices came down and the technology got better with more programming available. I figured that might be in twenty or thirty years.

  This was the one day of the year we were allowed to eat food in front of the television. Mum believed in the family sitting at the table to eat. Don’t get her started on those new TV Dinners and TV dinner trays. She thought those were the invention of the devil.

  We talked about the dance last night. When the other kids weren’t in the room; my parents observed that Cheryl and I seemed to be at it “hot and heavy.”

  There wasn’t much I could say as they had seen us.

  “Rick, that is normal. All we ask is that you don’t make us grandparents yet.”

  Oh boy, this is territory I don’t even want to think about. Are they going to give me the birds and the bees talk?

  Dad continued, “I’m not going to give you the birds and the bees talk. The playground has taken care of that. I would like to urge you to take it slow. You could really mess up yours and Cheryl’s lives at a young age.”

  “Dad, I have never been alone with Cheryl.”

  “That is my point, if what we saw last night was any indication we will need to keep you two on leashes.”

  “What can I say?”

  “You can’t say anything. It is your future actions that count. Just remember that if Cheryl becomes pregnant that both of your lives are headed in a direction that you may not be ready for.”

  “I know I’m not ready to be married and a father.”

  “Then keep it in your pants.”

  How could Dad be saying these things in front of Mum? She must be embarrassed to death.

  “As long as you stop short of intercourse you will be safe but it’s up to you to be the one to stop,” added Mum.

  So much for Mum being embarrassed.

  Dad continued, “Cheryl is a good girl and she knows that she will be the one whose life is really changed if she gets pregnant. But she is human. Sex is what it is about at your ages. You both will explore. We just urge you not to take that final step until the time is right.”

  Mum broke in, “The right time is preferably after a wedding, college degrees and a job. We will settle for being old enough to support a family.”

  I didn’t think this was a good time to bring up the fact that I had made enough money in the last year to support ten families.

  Dad went on, “There is another thing Rick, you are a good looking guy that is big for his age. At the end of this month you will be working in California on a movie set. Lord knows what will go on there. I will be giving you a box of condoms before you leave, but would be most happy if it came back unopened.”

  I was so far over my head that I just wanted out of the room. I was the one that was embarrassed! Up to this point I had only vague thoughts about intercourse. My fantasies had involved first and second base. Now they were talking about home runs!

  “That is the end of the talk Rick,” Dad told me.

  “Life is coming at you and we just don’t want you to make mistakes, at least those mistakes. I’ve seen a family destroyed by those actions and don’t want it to happen to you.”

  Now that really made me wonder about which family and
what actions, but I wasn’t going to continue this line of conversation any longer than I had to.

  “You are excused for now, I suspect you may want to go to your room and think about this,” Mum told me.

  Well I wanted out of this room that was for sure.

  I spent the rest of the day buried in a book. This was avoidance plain pure and simple. I didn’t care. Life is not fair. I had been looking forward to the pleasures, and my parents were forcing me to look at the consequences.

  Later in the afternoon my parents had stepped out so I called Cheryl’s house. Her parents were near the phone. I could tell that by the way she wouldn’t talk.

  I asked her if she wanted to go for a walk in Rutan Park. They lived in base housing, so it wasn’t that far. She asked her parents. I heard her tell them a friend wanted to go for a walk. I noticed she didn’t tell them it was me.

  I headed out going up the hill as fast as I could in regular shoes. I met her at the roadside park near the radio station, so we just sat on the park benches. We agreed that we both had a good time last night at the dance. Then she told me that she had got a talk from her mother this morning.

  I told her she was lucky, I got mine from both parents. We both agreed that our parents were going overboard. We had no plans like they seemed to think. We were just enjoying the moment last night.

  I told her, “I really enjoyed the moment.”

  Cheryl thought briefly, “Maybe that is their point. When you are enjoying the moment how do you stop enjoying?”

  I started to reply then closed my mouth.

  After thinking I said, “Oh, once you have started, stopping could be very hard.”

  Cheryl giggled, “Especially if it’s hard!”

  The women in my life were determined to embarrass me to death.

  “Cheryl, we haven’t gone on a real date yet and our parents have us in bed.”

  “I think they have just realized that we are growing up and that’s a possibility.”

  “I’m not ready for that, I would feel lucky if I could feel your breast.”