Chapter 7

[Disclaimer: This story reads best in LANDSCAPE MODE on a smart phone or any other mobile device.]

Sunday morning appeared with a thud. It would be another whole day before I saw my love again. It caused me to understand how deeply I now miss my girl – my future fiancée!

Mom came into my room and said, “Get up, lover boy!”

“Why?” I whined. “Nothing is going on today. No school, No music rehearsal, No working on the play ... and No Jennifer.” I turned over and pulled the covers up and over my head.

“Michael, get up and take a shower, and come down for something to eat. Jennifer and Alice will be here any minute.”

I jumped up and out of bed, running into the shower. I came down dressed to hang out. I saw Jennifer waiting for me. Alice must have been in the kitchen with mom.

“Hey beautiful. I missed you ... a lot.”

She got up, and we kissed for as long as we could. We walked into the kitchen together. The ladies stopped and acknowledged our presence.

I asked, “Jenn, when we get married, will you become Jennifer Guthrie-Thomas, or just Jennifer Thomas?”

“That would depend if I had gotten famous before we married or not. The idea of being married and waking up next to you fills my heart with joy,” she said.

“I can’t tell you what waking up next to you would be like, but I can imagine you being beautiful first thing in the morning. No makeup, just you.”

Alice and Jan brought the cooked food to us. I said, “Thank you, ladies,” as they sat down.

“If it’s alright for me to say,” Alice said. “Your children, my grandchildren will be very good-looking.”

“They also should be very musically talented. Don’t you think so, Michael?” mom added.

“As long as the girls look like their mother, that’s all I want. I hope our sons are big and tall,” I stipulated as well. Suddenly that wonderful song ‘Soliloquy’ quickly went through my mind.

We dug into the meal, consisting of scrambled eggs, sourdough toast, and bacon. We ate slowly, just enjoying the moment. After a while, I said, “Mom, are we taking everything to the new house?”

“We could take the opportunity to clean out a little, if you would like?” she answered. “Anything in particular, Michael?”

“I was thinking about really organizing all the sheet music before it got moved. Alphabetically makes the most sense,” I added.

“I already got some boxes for doing stuff like that. That could be what you do today. You could find music for your monthly concert’s next year while you are at it,” Alice remarked.

“That might take all day long,” Jennifer said, flashing her smile at me.

“And night.” I said smirking.

“Since tomorrow is no school, I brought Jennifer and I each some changes of clothing. That way we could stay over,” Mrs. Guthrie said.

“Why is there no school?” I asked.

“Teachers In-Service Training. No school ‘til Tuesday,” mom said.

I couldn’t keep from smiling at that point. Mom made a motion that I had food on my lip. “I will get it,” Jenn said licking it right off my face.

“Oh dear,” Alice said. “That was rather naughty of you, Jennifer.”

“Yeah, but a good naughty,” I said not letting anyone realize I was mostly erect underneath the table. We finished our meal, excusing ourselves. I gave both moms a kiss for the nice breakfast.

We walked arm in arm. “After we all move in together, we will have breakfast together every morning, won’t we?” Jenn wondered aloud.

“Yes, and dinner, lunch, and bedtime too,” I said.

We went over to the sheet music and moved it all to in front of us on the floor. A daunting task was before us.

“What should we do first?” I asked my girl.

Going through the stacks for music to perform, while also separating the rest of it to stacks of ‘A’ thru ‘M’ and ‘N’ thru ‘Z,’ was her idea.

“OK, between us will be a common ‘N’ thru ‘Z’, and we will each generate our own ‘A’ thru ‘M’ piles. Songs starting with the words ‘A’, ‘An’, and ‘The’, will be alphabetized by the following word, OK?” I asked my blonde beauty.

“And we will each create a stack behind us for possible performance,” Jennifer added.

She reached over and gave me a kiss. Our moms popped through the door. “I will get the empty boxes from the car, don’t let us stop you, kids,” Janice said.

I had a recording of our concert on my phone, so I started that music before we began.

We started working on our first sort. Jenn was humming as we went. We had a pretty quick pace. One of my assumptions was correct. The second half of the alphabet has twice as much music as the first.

We were pulling out some wonderful old pieces of music. Some Andy Williams, the score for ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, a fair amount of Beatles music and much, much more.

At that point, she was trilling in harmony with herself. What a talent my future wife has. I pulled the complete score to DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, showing it to Jenn.

She pulled the score to THE PRODUCERS and RENT. Neither of those would be appropriate at Jackson Heights, but it did give me some hope. LES MISÉRABLES and PAJAMA GAME piano scores came out as well. I don’t know the story or music from this last show, so I pulled it into my personal pile.

“Michael,” my true loves’ voice inquired, “When you carried me upstairs, was it cavemen or just-married style?”

Chuckling, I answered, “Just-married style. Does that make you happier?”

“Yes,” she said stopping to give me a kiss.

The moms came in with a box of boxes to be made, some duct tape, a magic marker, and a stapler with a box of staples.

After they put it down, Alice asked, “Can we help?”

“I think we got this, ladies. Thank you again for breakfast, and thank you for letting me rant earlier, Mom.”

“I understand,” she said with watery eyes. “Anything I can play for you?”

“Absolutely. I don’t recognize this show or music,” I said handing her the PAJAMA GAME score.

“Oh, I remember this, one of the few times John Raitt played the part on Broadway and in the Hollywood movie. That’s whom I think you sound like, Michael,” she said. “I will play the Overture. There is at least one melody you should recognize.”

We went back to work as she played. I recognized it right away. The song was called “Hey There,” a popular hit by Rosemary Clooney in the early 50s. I was humming along now.

I went back to work alongside Jenn ... making good progress until another song I recognized, “Hernando’s Hideaway.”

I hunkered down, and concentrated on the job at hand. What had started with eleven large stacks of music were now five even larger stacks. A major sort had occurred, but you just couldn’t see the end result quite yet. We just don’t need an inside the house twister to mess it all up.

Jenn and I both got up to stretch a little. I put my ‘A’ thru ‘M’ stack next to hers. She put her personal stack on mine. Mom was done with the song “I will Never Be Jealous Again,” gesturing to Jennifer to come over.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” I said. “We are taking a break and will listen to the haunting voice of the future Jennifer Guthrie-Thomas.”

Mom started with a musical opening that was six measures long...

JENNIFER
Lately when I am in my room
All by myself in this solitary gloom
I call to myself

Hey there, you with
the stars in your eyes
Love never made a fool of you
You used to be too wise

Hey there, you on
that high-flying cloud
Though he won’t throw a crumb to you
You think someday he will come to you

Better forget him
Him with his nose in the air
He’s got you dancing on a string
Break it and he won’t care

Won’t you take this advice
I hand you like a mother
Or are you not seeing things too clear?
Are you too much in love to hear?

Is it all going in one ear?
And out the other

Janice was first to say, “Very nice, Jennifer. For singing cold.”

I came up to her and said, “Everything you sing is so heavenly sounding. Back to work. Alice, could you bring us each a bottle of water. We must keep our instrument’s moist.” I got slapped at as we both sat back down.

“Please, go on Ms. Forrester. You are playing wonderfully this morning,” I said.

“OK, Jenn. This pass separates letter by letter. We should staple anything that needs it as we go.”

“Mom, with all the room we will have at the new place, can we acquire an updated computer system plus a copier/printer?”

“Great idea. Then, you can make your own copies. From what I understand, Miss Jepson is being kept busy by your copying demands,” she said.

“He likes to flirt with her as well,” Jennifer said. “She likes it too.”

“What’s wrong with flirting?” Alice said. “Michael and I do as well. It’s all in good fun, isn’t it?”

“Until you happen to be in the same bed as he is,” Jennifer said. “Then, all bets are off.”

Alice blushed. “I played Gladys at Jacobs college, the lead dancer in PAJAMA GAME. That was fun, I met Jennifer’s ... father during it. He played the President of the Pajama Factory.”

Mom was moving to the back of the score, playing the song “Hernando’s Hideaway,” as Alice began to sing...

ALICE JEAN GUTHRIE
I know a dark secluded place.
A place where no one knows your face.
A glass of wine a fast embrace.
It’s called Hernando’s Hideaway ... Ole!

All you see are silhouettes.
And all you hear are castanets.
And no one cares how late it gets.
Not at Hernando’s Hideaway ... Ole!

At the golden fingerbowl
or any place you go.
You will meet your uncle Max
and everyone you know

She was singing very nicely and flittering about the room in a cute jazz dance. She was constantly shaking her tush and her ‘topside’ as she danced. She was really entertaining. I stopped to watch as much as I dared.

Our orchestra would have such a wonderful time playing this music.

We all applauded at her final move, perfectly timed to the music.

We next had to merge our two ‘A’ to ‘M’ stacks into one. I did that while Jenn took a break and listened to the music. Then, Jenn and I went back to work with ‘A’ to ‘F’ on the first pass making six stacks, one for each letter of the alphabet involved. Stopping to staple slowed us down, but it assured the music staying together.

We did the same from ‘G’ to ‘Ma,’ with the smaller chunks going faster. The faster the music mom was playing, the quicker our pace went. By noon, we completely separated everything by letter. The tougher job was next, alphabetical within each letter.

To keep this organized, I took ‘A’ and did it, and then Jenn followed up with ‘B’ and so on. Fortunately, I thought ahead and realized I would get ‘S’ which was the largest letter group by a large margin.

“How soon before the prisoners get a meal around here?” I intoned.

“I’m sleepy,” Jenn said leaning into me. She yawned. I did as well and we got up together. “Nap time,” I said.

We started up the stairs; no one stopped us, and so we lay down on my bed. She gave me a kiss, and we fell asleep.

We woke up to the sounds of our mother’s giggling. We went downstairs and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Michael Bublé is going on Tour, and he’s stopping in Louisville. That’s only three hours from here,” Alice said.

“So?” Jenn remarked.

“He has some young dancers traveling with him ... named Charles & Claire. They are your age, kids,” Alice said.

“Are you ladies going to see him?” I asked.

“All four of us are going to see the show. It’s in three Sundays. We should be settled in our new home by then. This could be our present to ourselves,” Janice explained.

“Are you sure you want us to come along?” Jenn said.

“If we went by ourselves, would you two be able to control yourselves being alone for the weekend?” Alice said.

“Just by asking the question that way, makes me think you don’t trust your own daughter,” Jennifer said in a huff. “We may be in love, and plan on being married naming our first little girl after our mothers, but that doesn’t mean that we plan to ‘fuck’ – just because you aren’t around to keep us from ourselves.”

Wow! That was ballsier than anything I had yet to say to them. Using the word fuck out loud certainly was an interesting decision.

“Michael, what do you have to say about this?” my mother directed to me.

“I have nothing to add to what my girl just said,” I remarked putting my arms around her waist. She put her hands over mine.

“Fine, you will regret not going to see Michael and these dancing teenagers. Some people are saying they are the best of their generation,” Janice said.

“I think my girl is also the best of our generation. We will likely get to see them again anyway. So, they can dance. Big whoop! We have this project to finish, and its time to feed us. I saw an ad for Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. If we have one of those nearby, that sounds great,” I said.

“Look it up and find out, Michael,” my mother said.

I went to the computer and put in the parameters, “There’s one in Washington or Princeton. They both look about twenty miles away. Princeton is just down the 150. That’s where I would pick.”

“OK, everybody, clean up before we leave,” Alice said.

We were on our way there, in the back seat cuddling. I started a very quiet conversation.

“You didn’t need to use the word ‘fuck,’ did you?”

“Why? Did it offend you?”

“No, just the opposite. I have been hard ever since you said that. Are you expecting us to do that while they leave for those two days?”

“I don’t know, but they seem so hoity-toity about it. I think if we wanted to, we should. Unless, you don’t want to ... is that it? Are you unwilling to make love to me?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Jennifer,” I said. “I have loved you since I met you. I just don’t want to do this because we can, I want our first time to be romantic and special.”

“Good, so do I,” she said giving me a kiss.

“It’s awfully quiet back there,” mom said.

“If you must know, we are planning our wedding vows.”

“What?”

“GOTCHA!”

“You really are full of yourself, aren’t you?” Alice said.

“Principal McGowan said the same thing to me recently. Do I come off as arrogant?”

“No, Michael ... Just very sure of yourself. That only looks like arrogance to the uninformed and unschooled,” Janice said.

“I see the sign for it ... we’re close.”

The Red Robin wasn’t busy. I saw a picture of professional golfer Johnny Masters on the windows. He’s got Red Robin as a major sponsor. I caught part of a round of golf on the Golf Channel. He’s great. If I had the time, I would watch a lot more golf. Right now, music and Jennifer are all I have time for. Wait, reverse that!

We were seated and given menus. Jenn quickly uttered, “Everything looks so good.”

Too easy, “Since I have the prettiest ladies with me, everybody looks tasty to me.”

“That is very kind of you,” Alice said.

“Alice ... Ms. Guthrie. I’m in love with your daughter. I can easily surmise she gets her inner beauty from you as well. So, logic dictates that I am also in love with you as well.”

“Was his father this smooth?” Alice said turning to mom.

“Almost, he left me only one thing when he died ... Michael. I knew that he would end up being musically inclined. My mother sang with the Met. Michael senior, my husband, was a basso profondo, who sang all over the world, which paid very well ... when he wasn’t needed by the military for something or other. That is why we live as well as we do.”

Our server came over and took our orders. I put my hand on Jennifer’s to let her know she was not available.

“So, what happened to him?” Alice softly asked.

Mom answered, “He was flying across the North Sea, and something happened to the plane. Everyone on the plane died from the exposure...”

“Go on, Janice, please?” her best friend asked.

“His body was unidentifiable, but they said it was him, and we had services in Indianapolis, where he was born. Michael was not yet five years old at the time. I was devastated. The life insurance was some huge amount and my son and I have been living off the interest all this time,” she said, trying not to cry. “That was over eight years ago, but it feels much longer than that.”

I moved from being next to Jenn and sat by my mother. “Mom, that’s the first time you told that story. I know how you must have felt. I was just starting at Jackson Heights and there were some mean kids who verbalized their abuse because I was so small. That’s what caused me to become invisible. I just went through my days, months, and years letting others answer questions and be the ones who were selected for the next thing going on.”

“It wasn’t until this year, the day I met Jennifer. I became a conductor and a boyfriend all in one day. I may be only thirteen, but these days I feel sixteen, maybe even seventeen, wanting to keep Jenn by my side, forever.”

The server was coming, so I moved back next to Jenn. I ordered a Johnny Burger with fries and a Coke. Jenn ordered a Crispy Chicken sandwich and a Barq’s Root Beer. The ladies got less greasy food and Iced tea.

I was hungry, and gulped it down. Jenn was giggling at my big mouthfuls. I leaned into her and said quite licentiously, “I like to chew for a while before I swallow.”

She made a wonderful little sound.

The drinks and the fries were ‘bottomless.’ They were replaced as much as we wished. Jenn giggled when I first used the term out loud.

Our server returned and asked if we wanted some dessert. The moms groaned in response, but I ordered a large chocolate milkshake with two straws.

We eventually left; full, and satisfied. On our trip home, Jenn fell asleep with her head on my lap. She looked so beautiful. Alice looked back at us. She smiled at me and then turned to face forward.

Hearing those details about my father had me pensive as the miles clicked by. I was not small anymore. I was tall enough to take this girl in my arms and make passionate love to her. However, I am only thirteen and was too responsible to do anything, so irresponsible.

The car stopped in front of the garage. I got out carrying my girl to the door. “I love you, Michael,” I heard her say as we walked in together. The project would have to wait until tomorrow. I said goodnight to the ladies and took my love to my bed.

While trying to figure out how to remove some of her clothing, I asked Alice into the room. She asked, “Give us a moment, please?”

I stepped out of my room, completely turning away from what was happening ten feet away from me. I heard Alice’s soft voice tell me it was all right to come back in.

Before she left, Alice took me by the shoulder. “Michael, in response to what you said earlier, I do love you ... likely as much as my daughter does. When you do what you appear destined to do, be safe and don’t hurt my little girl.”

She gave me a wonderful hug, then left.

“Michael, come cuddle with me ... please?” I barely heard from my bed.

I crawled into my bed, and she scooted right up behind me. “I love you, Michael,” she said.

By morning, we had switched positions, and my erection was pushing against her butt. I had my hand just below her bosom.

We stayed like this until my alarm went off. She wanted me to stay put. She felt really wonderful with my arms around her.

I gave her a deep kiss as I turned around to see our mothers with arms crossed. They both saw my erection jutting my boxers out. There was no way to hide it.

“Were you a good boy last night, Honey?” Janice asked.

“A very good boy, ladies. This is what is called ‘morning wood,’ it has nothing to do with Jennifer.”

It actually throbbed right then. “Maybe it has ... a little to do with Jennifer,” I said smiling.

“I wouldn’t use the word little if I were you, Michael,” Alice said, making me blush.

“Go take your shower. Take care of that if you need to,” mom said.

I took my shower, coming out in a towel. I keep forgetting to take clothes in with me. They smiled and left us to start our day hopefully without any additional grief. The day is early yet!

Jenn wouldn’t let me get to my underwear drawer, so I decided on a first strike and dropped my towel exposing my hardness. She was in shock long enough for me to quickly get a pair of boxers on.

Clearly disappointed in me, she walked into the shower. I was really hard. As her shower started and her singing began, I added a pair of sweats and a T-shirt as my ensemble.

She came out in a towel. She saw I was dressed and dropped her towel. Dear god, she is going to kill me, if Alice and Janice don’t first. I turned around and left the room. I heard her darling giggle as I took the stairs down to the kitchen.

“Where’s Jennifer?” her mother asked.

“Being a slowpoke. I had things to get started. Call me when breakfast is ready, I will be working with our stacked ... stacks of music.”

I went and sat down where I had most of yesterday. I had ‘S’ in front of me, so I started up taking the time to staple as I went. Her Highness finally came downstairs and sat by me saying, “I am sorry, it was a moment of weakness. I wanted you to see what you were missing out on, Lover.”

“See anything you liked?” she said, as she settled in picking up ‘T’ and getting to work. We were getting a rhythm going loaning each other the stapler when need be. Did she have on a brassiere?

“BREAKFAST,” the ladies said in a very tight harmony. I got up and took milady into the kitchen.

I helped Jenn to her seat, and I sat down myself.

The ladies made homemade peanut butter pancakes, one of my favorite breakfasts ever. They sliced bananas and put the pieces on the top, then poured some hot maple syrup on top of that.

I cut a piece and gave Jenn the first bite. She loved it, but dripped a bit of syrup on her plate. “This is amazing, Janice. The best thing I have tasted in my life.”

“There might be something that comes along that tastes that good,” I said quietly, leaning into my girl.

She blushed. She fed me a bite, and it became a very erotic thing we were doing. I looked over and saw our mothers hadn’t started to eat yet.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“No, nothing is wrong,” my mother said. We all were eating now. There were a few looks back and forth, but I wanted Jenn and I to finish up the project we had all over the front room.

“Everything you ladies’ cook is amazing, but Jennifer and I have things to do. Bye.”

We settled back into our previous butt impressions in the carpet. We worked in relative quiet for a while, and then she started humming a melody I didn’t know. I tried to keep going, but my curiosity got the better of me.

“What is that you are humming?” I asked.

“It’s from the musical OKLAHOMA. It’s called “I Cain’t Say No!” she said.

“Sing it for me, would you please?” I asked.

She cleared her throat and sang...

JENNIFER
It ain’t so much a question
of not knowin’ what to do;
I’ve know’d what’s right an’
Wrong since I have been ten!

I heerd a lot of stories,
and I reckon they are true,
About how girls are put upon by men

I know I mustn’t fall into the pit,
But when I am with a feller ... I furgit!

(Mom ran into the room, and started to play)

I’m jist a girl who cain’t say no,
I’m in a turrible fix
I always say “Come on, let’s go!”
Jist when I orta say nix!

When a feller tries to kiss a girl,
I know she orta give his face a smack.
But as soon as someone kisses me,
I somehow, sorta, wanta kiss him back!

She sang it to the very end, and I applauded her.

Alice came in applauding; Mom was giddy, and I kissed the girl who can’t say no. That seems Freudian?

“I love OKLAHOMA,” my mom said. “It’s considered one of the first great ‘book musicals.’ That’s when the songs are written to musically advance the plot. There are motifs, or musical themes throughout to connect music and the story.”

“What brought all that on?” Alice said.

“I was humming it and my boyfriend didn’t recognize it. I thought he knew everything that had ever been on Broadway, but I was wrong,” Jenn said.

“Not yet, that is,” I said getting back to work. “We should be done in about ninety more minutes; in case you were wondering?”

“We still have to put these in boxes, including labeling alphabetic dividers and the boxes themselves,” Jenn said. “We may have to stay another night.”

The smile on her face told me exactly how upset that made her.

I smiled just as much as she had.

“We will see about that?” Alice said.

We finally finished the complete alpha sort of all the songs, having 25 stacks in front of us. (We had two boxes of ‘M’ and ‘S’... ‘A’ and ‘B’ shared a box) Next, was the boxing up with the appropriate dividers. I put the first box together, following the instructions on the inside of each box. I made a box top.

Jenn put in as many songs and scores as would comfortably fit, but allowing for more, then stopped to use her perfect printing to put a large ‘A’ and ‘B’ on the front of the box. The alpha dividers slipped in, and one box was finished.

We kept a steady pace and made sixteen total boxes, filling each with a mass of songs and scores. With each box finished, Jenn stopped and put a number in the bottom left corner of each box.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“That’s how many songs are in that box. I thought it would be nice to know how many total songs we had,” she said with a smile.

“Which adds time to the project, doesn’t it?” I said.

“You think we can talk them into us staying over for another night?” she said, with a kiss that made my toes tingle.

“We can try.”

We finished the last of the boxes about eight pm. We stacked them into four piles of four. She read me each of the numbers, and we came up with 6,067 pieces of music. That didn’t count our personal pulls from earlier. Our moms came out and Janice said, “It looks like you are all done. You don’t need to stay over.”

Getting up from sitting most of the day to stretch my legs, I said, “Now we need to put the entire list on my laptop, and that could take at least three more days?” I said turning to Jenn.

They easily figured us out.

“With school, don’t you think it might take over a week?” Alice commented.

“Maybe, even longer than that,” I said. “Mom, why don’t they move in now, then moving into the new place would be easier, don’t you think?”

“You two wouldn’t mind sharing that small space that Michael calls a bedroom, until we get into the new house?” Alice said, clearly bristling with sarcasm.

“I guess so,” I said. “It’s OK with me. She does hog the blankets.”

“Michael is so warm and toasty, we don’t need much room at all,” Jennifer said apparently not completely understanding the concept of underselling.

“Let’s eat and then swing by their place on the way home,” my mother said.

“This way we can take the same bus in the morning, can’t we?” Jenn said.

“Sure can,” I said, helping her step into her shoes, a la CINDERELLA.

“Maybe?”

“Maybe what?” I said back to her.

“Maybe we could sleep naked in each other’s arms really soon,” she said.

“I don’t think so, Jenn. Waiting sounds safer to me.”

After dinner, we pulled up to their place. After getting the door for the Guthrie Girls, I got back in the car waiting with mom.

“Thank you,” I said.

“For what, honey?”

“For trusting me more than I trust myself.”

“Is there something I need to know?” she asked turning to look at me.

“No, I just wanted to thank you for your confidence. That’s all.”

“You know that spending time with Ally is like having a reunion with the sister I never had. We are having a blast reconnecting after all these years. Your meeting Jennifer has worked out well for all of us. I trust you to be a gentleman, but if your hormones get the best of you, be safe, be gentle and use protection.”

“Are you telling me what it sounds like you are telling me?” I asked. “I am not even fourteen yet?”

“Ally and I see your love for one another. It’s for all-time, isn’t it?”

“I am certain of it, mother. We just seem to click together. I love her as much as I love you, and that’s a bunch.”

I took her hand and kissed the back of it.

“My perfect little gentleman,” she remarked.

Their front door opened. I got out, mom opened the trunk, and I put their suitcases inside. I closed the door for Alice and then got in after Jenn.