Now it was back to Dolores. “Chet, your salary is many times that amount.”
“Sure, but Randy knows that already. He’s seen the money this restaurant makes.”
Chet leaned back in the booth and said, “There’s a lot more money to be made if I could stay open longer. I can’t keep up with my current workload. There’s no way I could work more.”
Dolores hit her line on cue. “If only you could find a hardworking, trustworthy young man. Someone who knows your business and could help you cover those extra hours.”
Chet said, “When I find that person, I’ll be able to keep the restaurant open longer and work fewer hours.”
Dolores appeared as though she was stunned. “You mean you’ll work less and make more?” she asked.
She paused to let that thought resonate. I suddenly had an idea where the conversation might be heading.
Dolores managed to sound genuinely curious when she asked, “If you could find the right person, what would you pay him?”
Chet knew his script. “Someone who could help me keep the restaurant open more hours a day would easily be worth twelve thousand. Someone I could trust for a week or two, while we were in Florida, would be worth a lot more. If that person knew something about accounting, so I didn’t have to pay a bookkeeper, he’d be worth eighteen thousand a year.”
Dolores swooned almost convincingly. “A young man making that much money, in the Valley, could get a nice apartment, a new car, and still be able to save lots of money.”
Chet agreed. “He might start saving to buy a house.”
“Now, Chet, he could save for any darn thing he wanted,” Dolores argued. She looked directly at Meghan and said, “He might want to save for an engagement ring. I’m just saying, anything he wanted.”
Meghan looked over at me and blushed but could not keep from smiling.
Chet made sure there was no doubt who they were talking about when he said, “I could also provide that young man with health insurance, just in case he ever needed to get his face sewn up again.”
Still looking at Meghan, Dolores got in another shot. “Oh, Chet, health insurance covers more than just stitches. Just say his wife was going to have a baby. That would be covered as well.”
I smiled at Meghan, and she smiled back at me.
“Chet, if you’re offering, I’m accepting,” I said.
We shook hands, and my job search was over, but Dolores wasn’t through.
“Meghan, I thought I saw somewhere that Valley Hospital was looking for nurses. Have you heard anything about that?”
Meghan was giddy. “Yes! Yes, they are!”
Dolores looked at Chet and said, “We better let these two get to the library. They have to study for their exams. We wouldn’t want them to miss graduation.”
I felt a palpable sense of relief. It was not the kind of job I expected to have after graduation, but it was too good to turn down. I walked into the kitchen to grab my books and then met Meghan at the front door. It didn’t feel like my feet ever touched the ground. We climbed the hill heading for the library. Meghan was still beaming and wrapped her arm around mine as we walked.
“I know which job I’m taking,” she said.
Top of the Fifth Inning
Graduation day finally arrived and, against all odds, one of the diplomas had my name on it. It was a brilliantly sunny Saturday in May, and the temperature was rising with the sun. Unfortunately, my parents were not able to attend. As fate would have it, my brother’s graduation was the same day. They had to take Vicky and Ricky Jr. to see him receive his diploma. They felt bad about it and promised to make amends.
Of course, Meghan’s parents were there and, incredibly, so were Chet and Dolores. Chet actually closed the restaurant for a couple of hours to watch the ceremony. We sat in the sweltering football stadium wearing black caps and gowns. Sweat erupted from every pore of my body while I listened to speech after speech I didn’t care to hear. Finally, the Dean handed me my diploma, and my name was announced. Four years of blood, sweat, and tears seemed worthwhile as my name echoed around the stadium.
After the ceremony, Meghan’s mom, Cindy, had us pose for pictures. Chet pulled me aside and handed me an envelope that contained a check for two weeks’ pay.
“Maybe it’s a vacation check, and maybe it’s a graduation gift. Either way you deserve a little time off after all the hours you worked the last two years,” he said. “I’m going to close the Grill for Memorial Day; you can start the day after.”
I’d never had a paid day off in my life. Two whole weeks was difficult to grasp. It was almost as unimaginable as Chet closing the restaurant for a day.
Meghan’s parents treated us to dinner at the Valley House. I was happy they made an early reservation. There is a tradition at Central Valley called the Valley Farewell. Graduates make the rounds at the bars near campus and have a farewell drink at each. An early dinner would leave us plenty of time to hit all four bars.
Dinner with her parents was surprisingly relaxed. My ego was still bruised from previous encounters with Meghan’s dad, but he actually seemed pleased that I agreed to join them. He even invited me to spend the Memorial Day weekend at their house. My paranoia made me wonder what he was plotting.
Her parents asked a lot of questions about my family. I told them my dad, Robert, worked as a claims examiner for an insurance company. My mom, Beverly, began working part time at a department store after my brother and I started high school. They were interested in hearing all about Ricky’s baseball career.
Much of the conversation centered on the next two weeks. Meghan needed to find an apartment. She was going to stay in town until Memorial Day weekend and look for a place to live. Meghan volunteered me to drive her around, since she didn’t have a car. We planned to go car shopping after she found an apartment.
After dinner, her parents left for Williamsport, and we commenced the bar run. There are four bars near campus that are popular with college students. Will’s is the closest, biggest, and most popular. A few blocks farther down Main Street is the Back Door Tap Room. Many people are curious about the name. All the alleys on the east side of Main Street slope down to the municipal parking area. The buildings on that side of Main Street have a lower level with a rear entrance. It got its name because the bar’s only entrance is on the lower level. The place is a dump but popular because it’s the cheapest place in town.
Maggy May’s has a dance floor and live music. College girls like it because they can dance. Wherever college girls go, college boys are not far behind. Finally, the Pepper Mill serves food, so it’s a good place to start or end your night. Most people like to have something in their stomach before they drink. Others want something afterward, to soak up the alcohol, and no other restaurant stays open as late.
We decided to start out at the Back Door Tap. The later it got, the scarier that place became. Besides college kids, it also attracted bikers and hard-core drunks. After one drink there, we were off to Will’s. It was crowded, and it was loud.
For my last two years of college it seemed like all I did was work and go to class. Somehow, along the way, I managed to make a lot of friends. Every time I turned around, I was saying goodbye to someone. There were hugs, handshakes, and promises to keep in touch.
From Will’s we walked four blocks to Maggy May’s. I made sure to dance with Meghan every time they played a song that she liked. I wasn’t going to take a chance leaving her alone on the dance floor.
The Pepper Mill is a couple of blocks off Main Street. It’s a little out of the way and there weren’t many people around, so we had one drink and, done with the Valley Farewell, started for Donny’s. It had been a long day between graduation, dinner with her parents, and bar hopping. We had an eight-block walk to Donny’s, and we were running out of steam. We only made it as far as the civil war monument on Main Street. Th
e benches at the base of the statue gave us a reason to rest.
Winters in Central Valley are long and cold. Graduation night felt like the middle of summer. It was the kind of evening I dreamt about while shivering in my drafty apartment. The sky was clear, and the stars were easy to see, even with the bright streetlights. Main Street was quiet, except for an owl hooting from the clock tower.
“Do you remember the last time we sat here?” I asked.
The look on her face answered my question.
“I don’t remember being here.”
“I think there’s only one night you don’t remember in all the time we’ve gone out.”
“That would have to be the night I passed out on you. What were we doing here?”
I had to think a bit to answer her question. “How can I put this politely? You spent forty-five minutes venting about . . . well, let’s say what evil witches your sorority sisters had become.”
“Forty-five minutes! Were your ears bleeding?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t listening to your every word,” I admitted. “I had seen your sisters in action that night and figured you were entitled to rant. I was trying to memorize the names up on the monument. I think I could still recite all seventeen of them.”
Meghan looked up, probably to check if there really were names on the monument. She was quiet for a time as a few cars and pedestrians passed by. During the lull it occurred to me that I never knew where that night had begun for her. She came into Will’s early and clearly had been drinking somewhere else.
“How much did you have to drink before you showed up at Will’s that night?” I asked.
With an embarrassed look, she said, “I was pretty bad by the time I got there.”
“Pretty bad is something of an understatement.”
“It was all Helen’s fault. I talked the girls into skipping the frat parties and going to the bar with me. Since we’d be paying for drinks, Helen insisted we do vodka shots before going out.”
Surprised at the revelation, I said, “Vodka shots seem pretty hard core for you.”
“Any shots are hard core for me,” she replied. “I’m not that big of a drinker. A couple of beers or a glass of wine is more my speed. At that point, I was ready to try anything. I was so hyper over everything that had gone on with Eric.”
I felt bad that I made her recall such a difficult time in her life. “It must have been tough breaking up with a guy you had gone out with for so long,” I said.
“The last two years together were tough, breaking up with him was easy. He was drinking all the time and playing terribly. I don’t know if the alcohol was hurting his game or he drank because he wasn’t playing well. Either way, he took all his frustration out on me.”
She giggled and then said, “I have a confession to make. It was no accident I ran into you at Will’s. I asked Tom Martin where you would be on a Saturday night. I was hoping to meet up with you.”
Stunned, I asked, “Why would you go out looking for me?”
She smiled and gently ran her finger over the scar on my nose.
“Why wouldn’t I? You’re so easy to talk to, and you’re not hard to look at. If that’s not enough, you know just how to flatter a girl. The day you called me a knockout, I almost kissed you. Everything Eric called me began with stupid, needy, or ugly and ended with bitch.”
I heard what she said but was still stuck on her previous statement. “How could you think I wasn’t hard to look at? My face was a train wreck after we met.”
She laughed and said, “Oh, Randy, don’t be so dramatic! You had a couple of stitches and a black eye. That was easy enough to see through. In fact, I see a whole lot in you that you probably don’t see in yourself.”
It’s not like I was disfigured. The doctor did a great job closing up the lacerations, and the scars were neat. But thirty-seven stitches were more than “a couple.” I’m glad the sutures and shiner didn’t bother Meghan as much as they bothered me.
I was still questioning why Meghan Mallory would have been hoping to meet up with me. Meghan had a question of her own. “Randy, there isn’t much I remember about that night. I do remember being in your apartment and kissing you. I’m pretty sure it was more than a friendly kiss on the cheek.”
“You used both lips.”
“It’s not just the kiss! In a drunken stupor I had practically stripped in front of you. Were you tempted to take advantage of the situation?”
“Tempted? I’m afraid I’d have to plead guilty to tempted.”
“Other than the fact that you’re a gentleman, what stopped you?”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
“Randy, I have to know!”
“There are really two answers to your question. The first is simple and the second is a longer story.”
“I need to hear them both. I’ll sit here all night if necessary.”
A hundred memories came flooding back from my high school days. None of them were good memories. I wasn’t sure how to fit them all into one coherent story. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to try.
“The simple answer is I liked you too much. I could never take advantage of a friend. To understand the second answer, you had to know me in high school. My brother and I are identical twins. Well, not anymore but we were in high school. Girls lined up to go out with him while they ignored me. The only real difference I could see between us is that he was a star athlete. I came to the conclusion that was all girls wanted.”
“Gorgeous girls occasionally struck up conversations with me thinking I was Ricky. They’d hint around at the fun we would have if we were to go on a date. One girl came right out and told me to bring a bunch of condoms.”
“A bunch?” Meghan choked as she said it.
Embarrassed, I replied, “Yeah, I guess her expectations were pretty high.”
Meghan asked, “What did you say to her?”
“I always played along until they figured out which one of the Duffy boys they were propositioning. The condom girl never did catch on. Eventually, I asked her if she wanted to make it a double date with Ricky and his girlfriend.”
“No, you didn’t! What did she do?” Meghan asked.
“Like all the others, a look of horror came over her face when she realized she wasn’t talking to Ricky. It should have made me angry, but I always laughed it off. It was hilarious listening to them stutter and stammer while they tried to back away from their offer.”
I paused to figure out how to finish my story.
“That night in my apartment, I knew the alcohol was putting words in your mouth. I just wasn’t sure you knew you were talking to me. I didn’t want to see that look of horror on your face when you realized your mistake. I never imagined a girl like you would be interested in someone like me.”
“What the hell do you mean a girl like me?” she asked. I was caught off-guard by her sudden change in attitude.
“You’re the gorgeous girl who had been dating the star athlete. You’re on everybody’s A-list. I’ll bet you were both homecoming and prom queen in high school.”
“How’d you know that?”
“Just a lucky guess.”
“Eric was always voted the king of everything; people felt obligated to elect me as the queen.”
I shook my head. “What I mean is, girls who have everything going for them were always interested in my brother and not me.”
That set Meghan off. “At least you have a brother. I’m an only child. My parents’ house is in the middle of nowhere, and my nearest friend lived miles away. As a child, I was so lonely I’d wander out into the garden and play with the scarecrow.”
She was only getting warmed up.
“Eric wasn’t a star athlete when we met. He didn’t start playing football until I became a cheerleader. He tried out for the team so he could keep an eye on me.
Once he got to college and joined that frat, his ego raged out of control. He’d hit on other girls while he was holding my hand. God forbid, if I said hello to another guy, he’d fly into a rage.”
She continued without taking a breath, “Believe me when I tell you that I never asked to be queen of anything. When people put you on a pedestal, other people want to knock you off. After the prom, someone started a rumor that I got pregnant and had an abortion. How do you prove you didn’t have an abortion? The fact that you’re not pregnant is all some people need to believe the story. I was treated like a pariah the rest of my senior year. I was terrified my parents would get wind of it, and I never even had sex with Eric.”
Turning away and lowering her head, she said in a hushed voice, “At least not while I was conscious and that wasn’t in high school.”
“ . . . and being on everyone’s A-list doesn’t mean a damn thing when you have friends like mine. The night I got into trouble at the Sigma house, I let my guard down. Eric handed me a drink, and I was stupid enough to take it. I should have known better, and I was passed out before I knew what hit me. It was the only time in my life I needed a friend to watch my back. All my . . . so called . . . friends left me there with that bastard. You’d think one of them would have realized I was in trouble.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and her voice cracked. “Randy, you’re the only person I know I can trust. I swear to God, you’re my only real friend.”
Now I felt like a heel. It never occurred to me that she had her own troubles. We probably got along so well because her life was as screwed up as mine. I put my arms around her, to console her, and could feel she was trembling.
“Meg, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by what I said. There was no need to dredge up all that stuff. Sometimes I forget that I’m not the only person in the world with problems.”
I wasn’t sure this was the right time to tell her about my family issues. I was sure I wanted to change the topic of conversation. After a few minutes to let her to calm down, I decided it was now or never.
A Life On College Hill Page 13