Chapter 57: You Dropped a Bomb on Me

Lynette’s Car, North of London

4:40pm, Sunday, March 25, 1979

“Timmins! That’s like half way to the frickin’ North Pole, isn’t it?” Lynette exclaimed as she drove north on Highbury Ave after we had a coffee, muffins and/or some donuts at Tim Hortons.

“What the hell, Paul!” I said as I turned in the front passenger seat to stare at my clearly upset best friend in the back seat.

“I, uh, me and Cathy weren’t gonna say anything to you guys ‘till it was official, but uh, its looking more and more like my mom is going to take the vice-principal’s position at Timmins’ High School, next year.”

“You can’t leave us!” Lynette shrieked as she alternated her looks between the road and the rear-view mirror.

“Lords knows, that’s not w-what Cathy and I want, either!” my best friend said almost in tears.

“Jeezes, man ... when did all this come about? I incredulously asked, “I had no idea that Tom and Bertha were thinking of moving y’all way the hell up north!”

“Mom mentioned that, um, there was a good chance of this happening down in Port Stanley ... like I said, I, we, we weren’t going to say anything, but um, I ... I just couldn’t keep this to myself.”

“You okay, Paul?” Lynette asked as my best friend wiped a few tears from his cheeks.

“Nooo ... I’m not okay. Who the hell wants to go to bum-fuck Timmins? Plus, we, uh, we were just getting good, y-you know ... our band ... me and Sammy.”

“I’m guessing you haven’t said anything to her, huh?” I calmly asked my tearful friend as my own eyes were starting to well up with tears.

“No-ah! ... What the hell am I supposed to say to her? How do I tell her we’re more than likely moving to the damn Arctic Circle?”

“You-ah, would you like us to be there, you know, come with you when you tell her?” Lynette asked.

“We’ll be there for you, Paul ... if you want us,” I added.

“I, uh, I’d appreciate you two coming with me, uh, you know, when I tell her this shitty...” Paul sniffled out.

“You know I’m, we’re there for you, Man,” I said as I reached between the gap of the front seat and door and gave my best friend a few light taps on his right knee.

“Should, uh ... should we see if Cathy wants to come and be a part of this discussion?” Lynette asked after we neared the mighty village of Bryanston after a few minutes in silence.

I was smart and kept quiet to let Paul decide if he wanted his twin sister to be there when he told Sammy about this earth-shattering bit of news.

As Lynette pulled up in front of my house, Paul took a deep breath and said, “We better include Cathy, and um, Jennifer, don’t you think, when I break this load of crap to um, ta-to Sammy?”

“It may be good to have Jennifer there,” Lynette said as she turned around to face Paul from her driver’s position, “But, um, your main focus, our main focus is to ... help you deal with this...”

“And we can deal with the Time Bandits’ issue later on down the line ... if indeed you are leaving for Timmins,” I added.

“Exactly,” Lynette said as she lightly touched my right arm with her left hand.

“Yeah, yeah ... I hear what you’re saying,” Paul said as he shifted uncomfortably in the back of Lynette’s car. After a heavy sigh, he then confidently said, “I think I’d rather rip this Band-Aid off with one shitty pull ... if you don’t mind.”

“We’ll do whatever you want, Paul,” I said.

“As well as what Cathy wants, too,” Lynette added.

“Yeah, I’ll have to see what, Sis, wants to do ‘bout this. Thanks for that, Cano,” Paul said as he reached forward and rubbed both Lynette’s and my shoulders with his hands. “C’mon. No sense in dilly-dallying around with this crap.”

The three of us got out of Lynette’s car and I carried my gym bag as I followed Paul around behind the car.

“I’m just gonna toss this on the front porch,” I said as I hustled the short distance to our new cement porch.

As the three of us entered Paul’s living room through their front door, Cathy froze up like a statute on their sofa when she saw her brother’s puffy, tear-streaked eyes.

When their mom, Bertha, saw Cathy’s suddenly distressed posture, she turned to us, examined our faces and then softly said, “You told them, huh, Paul?”

“I- I-ah couldn’t keep it inside, any longer. S-sorry, Mom, Cathy,” Paul said as his tears began to flow freely once more.

“It’s okay, Paul,” his mom said as she pushed up out of her recliner. “I was surprised you, both of you, actually, kept this to yourself this long.”

“How are you doing, Cathy?” I asked to my former girlfriend as she hadn’t moved an inch since she saw us enter the living room.

“Here, Cathy!” Lynette called as she hurried over with her arms open to give our very distressed friend a supportive hug.

“I, uh, I da-don’t want to go. Everything I na-know and love is here ... ta-ta-this has always been my h-home and I don’t want to go!” Cathy wailed as she rested her head on Lynette’s shoulder who knelt in front of our sobbing friend.

“There’s still a chance we won’t...” Mrs. McGregory said as she stood between her two children.

“Don’t lie to us, Mom!” Cathy forcefully said as she lifted her head from Lynette’s shoulder and stared at her mother. “I heard you and Dad ... last night in the bedroom. Y-you said it’s all set, ‘cept for signing the contract!”

“And I still haven’t signed that contract,” Mrs. McGregory softly replied to her daughter’s hot assertion.

“But with Dad’s position at the Rehab Center likely to be cut,” Paul said with a surprisingly calm voice, “We know you could use that boost in salary you’d get from taking that Vice job, especially with the bonus added for that northern location.”

“You know about that?” their mom asked.

“I’m not as clueless as I may seem,” Paul replied.

“Me, neither,” Cathy added as she lowered her head back onto Lynette’s shoulder.

“You’re not clueless, neither of you! I just didn’t ... didn’t think you knew as much about all this as you’re sharing with me, now,” their mother replied as she moved over to Paul and gave him a hug.

“Mom, do uh, do you mind if we, all of us run over to Sam’s, and uh...” Paul asked as his mother walked over to give her daughter a comforting hug.

“Is she home, now?” Bertha, their mother asked as she sat next to Cathy on the sofa.

“Yes. She said she’d be home all day tending to her few battle scars from that competition on Friday,” Paul said.

“What battle scars?” Lynette inquisitively asked from in front of Cathy.

“Her cheek, and her right hand and left foot are kinda sore. Nothing major,” Paul replied, “She’s just slightly more dinged up than she thought she be after that Sanshou fight.”

“Oh, yeah. Once you come down from that adrenaline rush, those minor aches and pains tend to jump out at ya,” I said as I wrapped my arms around my best friend and squeezed him tight.

“Been there, felt like thatttt, after wipin’ out on my da-dirt bike a time or t-two,” Paul struggled to say as I still had in him a tight bear-hug.

“And why am I just hearing about these wipe outs, now, young man?” Bertha asked her son.

“No harm, no foul, Mom,” Paul replied after I released my grip on him.

“Still,” Bertha said with a touch of annoyance in her voice. She then quickly added, “If you guys want to run off to Samantha’s place, I’m good with it. Mike, make...”

“I will, Mom2,” I replied to my ‘Second Mom’, knowing I better ask Mom-One if it was okay to run over to Sammy’s.

“Take a couple of jackets with you. It’s supposed to get a good bit colder when the sun goes down,” Mrs. McGregory said as Lynette helped Cathy up off the sofa, and walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

“Want me to call Jennifer?” Paul asked as we waited for the two girls to return.

“Nah, I’ll do it,” I softly replied and then mouthed to my best friend, ‘On my computer in the car.’

“‘Kay,” he replied and gave me a knowing nod.

Samantha Labatt’s Main House

6:10pm

“Hey guys! What a nice surprise. We, uh, didn’t have a band practice scheduled for now, did we?” Sammy cheerfully said as she opened the front door to her large mansion.

“No, Sammy, we, uh, aren’t here to practice,” I somberly said as she stepped back and waved us into the large, three story tall open foyer of her house.

“So, uh, what’s up?” she pensively asked after scanning our faces and less than good body postures.

“I, uh, me and Cathy have some ... not so good news to share with you, and Jennifer,” Paul replied as he struggled to keep his tears from flowing, again.

“Come, sit here in the parlor, and tell me, tell us,” Sammy said as she motioned to Jennifer. “What’s going on? What’s got you so...”

Cathy, Lynette and I took a seat on the beautiful formal, styled couch, while Jennifer sat in a gorgeous striped, wing-chair. Paul took Sammy’s hand and sat with her on another beautiful sofa across from us.

Paul took a deep breath and slowly exhaled part of that air before he turned towards Sammy and said, “There’s no easy way to say this to you, Sammy, and to you as well, Jennifer other than ... we, uh, me and Cathy, uh, we’re ga-gonna be...” Paul couldn’t control his emotions at that point. My best friend dropped his head in his hands as tears spilled from his eyes.

With Cathy shaking in distress beside me, I knew I had to speak up and give Sammy and Jennifer this horrible news.

“Sam, Jenn,” I softly said trying to control my own emotions, “Paul and Cathy are about ninty-nine-point-nine percent certain that, uh, that they’re gonna be moving ... to Timmins.”

“What? No!“ Both Sam and Jennifer cried out in shock.

“You can’t leave us! You, You can’t leave me!“ Sammy hotly added as she leaned into Paul and burst into tears.

“Oh! Good Lord!” Jennifer exclaimed as she quickly rushed over to Cathy, hugging her and crying along with her friend.

I wrapped my left arm around Lynette and pulled her into my chest as the Labatt’s large parlor room suddenly felt real small as everyone’s sobs and sniffles filled it volume to the max.

“Good heavens! What is wrong?” Katie Labatt called as she came running down the entry hallway and saw us in our anguished states.

I looked at Sammy’s troubled step-mom and simply shook my head at her, hopefully letting her know that now wasn’t a good time to say anything. She gave me a small nod and then turned back to the main living area. I heard her call, “William, I’m need you, right away, please!”

After what felt like an eternity, I heard the distinctive foot-falls of Sammy’s parents grow from the entry hall. I waved to the two adults and watched as they silently moved to a vacant formal loveseat, and sat patiently as the girls and Paul slowly regained control of their emotions.

When Sammy finally leaned back from Paul’s chest and shoulder, and Jennifer had inched her butt in beside Cathy, I struggled to say, “Paul and Cathy are moving up north to Timmins ... before school starts back in this fall.”

“Oh, good heavens,” Katie Labatt softly responded to my announcement.

“I’m real sorry and saddened to hear that,” Mr. Labatt said in a comforting voice.

“He can’t ... they can’t leave us, Daddy. You’ve got to do something, PLEASEEE!” Sammy wailed, begging her father to use the vast means at his disposal to prevent this move from happening.

“Samantha, stop,” her father softly, yet sternly replied as he leaned forward in his seat. “You know full well...”

“William,” Katie calmly said to her husband as she lightly touched her husband’s thigh. After he looked back at his wife and saw her facial expression, Mr. Labatt leaned back into the loveseat and barely waved his hand to indicate that his wife should address things at the moment.

“Sammy, all of you,” Katie said with a gentle tone which seemed to really comfort the girls. When Sammy, Cathy and Jennifer looked up at her, Katie Labatt then said, “We know this is going to be rough on you, and it SUCKS big time. But, uh, families move all the time for many different reasons ... and kids your age struggle, but they also survive. We know you’re hurting, but you need to know that you’re all very strong and you’ll recover from this. We’ll be here to help in any way we can. But this decision, Sammy ... all of you, is for Paul and Cathy’s parents to make based on what is best for their family.”

“But Timmins is like a million miles from here,” Sammy snapped, “It’s not like I, we, can just jump in a vehicle and see Paul and Cathy every weekend.”

“True, true, Samantha,” Mr. Labatt replied in a much softer tone to his daughter’s mini-rant. “I know you know this in your heart, but there are some things I can’t fix or influence, Baby. As Katie just said, we’ll do what we can to help you, while respecting the McGregory’s familial decision.”

“Daddy, I just ... Thanks, Katie,” Sammy said in a much more civil fashion.

“Do you, kids need or want anything? Cokes, something to eat?” Sammy’s step-mom asked as she pushed up off their formal loveseat.

“Have you kids eaten anything for dinner?” Mr. Labatt asked.

“No,” Jennifer said, and both Lynette and I shook our heads negatively, while Lynette also pointed a finger at Cathy.

“We are going to order some Chinese food for dinner,” Mr. Labatt said as he stood in front of his daughter and Paul, and lightly rubbed her shoulder.

“Would you care to join us for Chinese?” Katie added with a smile.

“I can do Chinese, as long as there’s no MSG,” Jennifer sniffled.

“I can’t do MSG, either, Jenn,” Sammy said as she reached up and took a hold of her father’s hand.

“Come into the den and tell us what you’d like to have,” Katie said as she reached to give Jennifer a hand up off the sofa. When she looked at Cathy, she added, “It may not seem like it now, Cathy, but things will turn out just fine for you and your brother. I just have a strange feeling that you’ll be fine up in Timmins.”

“I hope so, Ms. Labatt ... it just doesn’t seem fine to me, right now.”

“I know it doesn’t, Sweetie. I know it doesn’t,” Katie said as she placed her arm over Cathy’s shoulders and led her into the main living area of their beautiful large mansion.

As we started to follow everyone from the parlor, Lynette gave me a subtle tug on my arm and mouthed, ‘Hang back a sec.’

With a purposefully slow shuffle, the two of us created a little separation from the others as they walked to the large den area. When she thought we had a little privacy, Lynette softly, yet simply stated, “Eda and Lisa ... drums and bass. Is that, is all this, what’s behind your Pastor’s statement and...”

“And with Paul and Cathy most likely gone, is that what that Mr. Murphie meant when he said, ‘Some of you, at least.‘?”

“That’s exactly what I just ... felt ... a moment ago,” Lynette whispered with a surprised look in her brown orbs.

“Me, too!” I replied with more volume in my voice than I intended to use.

“You, too, what?” Sammy called back to us from beside the large staircase leading to the second floor.

Lynette stared up at me and gave me a, ‘You got their attention, you speak for us,’ kind of look. I quickly came up with a little white lie and said, “I just agreed with Lynette that I’d really like some Hot and Sour soup, the kind with the shrimp, chicken and mussels mixed into it.”

“Oh! Me-three, then!” Sammy called as she turned and quickly recaptured Paul’s hand as they followed her parents into their beautiful, spacious den area.

“Damn, your good, Cuda,” Lynette whispered as we picked up our pace.

“May be so, but that still doesn’t help us with...”

“Yeah, I know it doesn’t,” Lynette said as she vigorously swung our joined hands on our short walk into the den area.

We were all sitting in plush leather seats, watching the classic western, Shane on the large forty inch color console television as we waited for our Chinese food to be delivered. Everyone but Jennifer seemed to be more relaxed and I dare say it, resigned to the fact that Paul and Cathy would be leaving us. I tapped Lynette’s thigh to get her attention and subtly nodded in Jenn’s direction.

After studying the oldest member of our band for a moment, Lynette looked at me and whispered, “Something is definitely up with Jenn, now.”

“Should we?” I returned in a whispered level.

Lynette shrugged her shoulders and whispered, “Your call.”

“Gee, thanks,” I quietly said as I gave her right knee a gentle squeeze.

“Penny for your thoughts, Mike, Lynette,” Katie Labatt said. I wasn’t surprised by Sammy’s step-mom’s perceptive abilities on her calling us out when she felt like things might be better served out in the open.

I sighed once more and then looked at Jennifer and said, “I’ll raise your penny, Ms. Katie, and offer a whole quarter for your thoughts, Jenn.”

Jennifer stared at me like a deer caught in a car’s headlights after I put her on the spot like that. She lowered her gaze for a moment and filled her lungs up with oxygen before she said, “I-ah, I’ve also been struggling with my own bit of good and bad news. See, Kalena ... Toxic and me ... we, uh, were just asked on Friday night to join the Ontario gymnastics development team based here in London. And, um...”

“That’s great, Jennifer! I’m, we’re real happy for you!” Sammy cheerfully said using that excited tone for the first time since she welcomed us into her house, tonight.

“That IS great news! ... Jennifer,” I excitedly added, but immediately realized that Jennifer had an additional piece of ‘not-so-good’ information to share with us. “What is it, Jenn?” I softly added to my first statement.

Jennifer shook her head, and looked down at the floor for a moment before looking up at us. With a smile, she confidently said, “For me to join that group of gymnasts, I’ll ... I’ll have to step away from ... the Time Bandits.”

“Oh goodness to heavens!” Katie Labatt said at Jennifer’s announcement.

“No, no, not you, too, Jennifer,” Sammy exclaimed in a completely neutral tone of voice. After her emotionally draining experience with Paul and Cathy’s information, I thought Sammy’s response revealed that her emotional gas tank was definitely on ‘E’ at the moment.

“You don’t think you’ll be able to do both that gymnastics and our band, Jennifer?” Lynette softly asked, trying to see if there might be another solution to this second major piece of terrible news.

“I doubt it, Cano,” Jennifer replied with tears running down her face once more. “The practice schedule is pretty rigid and time consuming. With my school work and chores around home, this developmental club is going to eat up a major chunk of my time.”

“When are you supposed to get going with this gymnastics club, Jenn?” Katie asked.

“They want Kalena and me to start at on April 15^th.”

“But isn’t Toxic’s wrist going to need surgery?” Lynette asked.

“Yeah, but there’s a whole lot of stuff she can work on with her hand in a cast, so ... I don’t know what else to say to you, other than ... thank you, thank you, thank you for giving the opportunity to be a part of your amazingly wonderful band, guys.”

“Do-ah, do you think that you maybe could still play with us ‘till that April fifteenth date?” Sammy sniffled and stammered.

“You’d still want me to play with you, guys, after I just dropped that bomb on you?” Jennifer asked as a small smile crept over her sullen face.

“Most definitely!” Lynette said.

“If you can, you’ll always be more than welcome to sit in with us on the songs we already have down,” I added which really upped Jennifer’s spirits.

Paul, who was eerily silent for the most part since we got to Sammy place, suddenly released a loud pitched whistling sound which dropped in pitch as it slowly faded. He then caused all of us to burst out laughing when he sang out an awful rendition of The Gap Band’s, “You Dropped a Bomb on Me, Baby. You dropped a bomb on me!“

(Note: You Dropped a Bomb on Me was from The Gap Band’s1982 album entitled, IV. As you know by now, I’ve taken the liberty of usurping ‘future songs’ and using them for my story’s purposes.)

“Good Lord!” Katie said as she covered her ears with her hands.

“Just know... I will demand the immediate return of all those wonderful instruments we got for you, if you entertain for a single nano-second, the idea of playing that song,” Mr. Labatt faux-threatened as he wagged his right index finger over towards Paul and Sammy, and then towards the four of us sitting on the other side of the den.

“It’s not high on my list of songs to perform, if you must know but...” I honestly said with a grin on my face.

“We may give it a whirl unless you give us the scoop as to why it immediately got under both of your skins,” Lynette said with an even bigger grin on her face.

“That’s a ‘don’t ask, so we won’t have to tell‘, type thing,” Katie chuckled as she placed both of her hands on her cheeks and gave her face a slight negative shake.

“You can’t leave us hangin’ like that, now!” Cathy stated as she scooted forward to the edge of the leather sofa with the first real smile I’ve seen on her face, today.

“Dang it, Paul! Thanks for bringing that blasted song up!” Mr. Labatt semi-fumed as Katie put her hands on his chest and gently wiped some ‘imaginary dirt’ or what-nots from his brown tweed jacket.

“You dropped a...” Paul sang again when Mr. Labatt raised, then shook his clinched fist at my grinning friend who then stopped his sick sounding vocals.

“Okay, okay,” Mr. Labatt resignedly said before letting a sigh escape from his mouth. “We were at a concert about two years ago at the El Mocambo Club in Toronto. The Gap Band was there to open for KC and the Sunshine Band. Well, they played that song as an encore. Because one of their flash pots wasn’t properly secured, when it exploded ... a ton of red and orange powder fired out towards us as we stood off to the side of the stage.”

Mr. Labatt then paused to take another good size breath of air. When he didn’t start back with his story fast enough, Katie Labatt then said, “William had just gotten a new, custom tailored Garrison Bespoke, gun-checked flannel suit, which cost a fortune, and...”

“That infernal band’s damnable flash-pot caused me to throw that one of kind suit in the trash bin,” Mr. Labatt fumed as he related that night’s unfortunate event.

“That’s why the two of you had tiny orange and red flakes in your hair for a couple of days, huh?” Sammy chuckled as she recalled her parents’ fussing about getting that cursed red and orange flecks from their bodies and hair.

“There you have it. That’s the reason why I hope to never hear that diabolical song, again,” Mr. Labatt stated matter of factly.

Paul just couldn’t resist his humoristic nature and repeated that whistling sound. Katie immediately cried, “We can arrange a much worse place than Timmins for you, young man!”

Even though that was a sore spot, especially with Paul, Cathy and Sammy, all of us laughed at Katie’s humorous threat directed towards our chief mischief maker, and their daughter’s boyfriend.

“From this moment forward, that song, which shall remain nameless ... will be ‘Songa non-existica’ to us,” Paul said as he bowed his head in defeat towards Katie Labatt.

“You mentioned our instruments earlier, Mr. Labatt,” Jennifer softly said as she sat up at the edge of the big leather chair. “I’ll be sure to leave...”

“Stop right there, Jennifer,” Mr. Labatt stated, “Those were our gifts to you and you’ve definitely kept up your end of the bargain by making them sing like they were supposed to sound. Besides, who else could play them like you did?”

“But I doubt I’ll be able to play them much longer ... with these guys.”

“Doesn’t matter to us, Jennifer,” Katie said with a smile at the oldest member of our band.

“That works the same way for your bass guitar, Paul. And I still have plans to send you, Cathy, and your mom to Montreal this summer to work with Jerry Mercer,” Mr. Labatt confidently stated.

“You won’t have to...” Cathy started to object but stopped as she had learned not to argue when Mr. and Mrs. Labatt had set their minds to something, and signaled that their decision was final.

“I’ll be in touch with your mom and dad, shortly, to finalize the arrangement for that trip in late July, regardless of your being here in London or up in Timmins,” Mr. Labatt said.

Just then, the doorbell rang announcing that our Chinese food had arrived.

As we chowed down on the various Chinese dishes at the Labatt’s extra-large eat-in breakfast nook, Cathy asked out of the blue, “You guys have any idea about how to go about finding a new drummer, bass player, and possible saxophonist?”

“I haven’t and don’t want to think about that, Cathy,” Sammy said as she made short work of her third eggroll.

When Paul and Jennifer caught Lynette staring at me after Cathy’s question, Paul nodded to Jennifer who immediately asked, “What’s running through your heads, Cano, Cuda?”

“If Sammy doesn’t want to talk about it, I’m not going to say anything to upset her,” Lynette said after I nodded at her to respond to Jenn’s query.

“I’m guessing that they were thinking of maybe Eda and Lisa Masicotro ... I’m wondering if those girls might want to take our spots,” Paul rightly stated as he lazily moved his fork through his plate of Mongolian beef and fried rice.

“Those are the girls from that church band, you guys played with a few Sundays ago?” Sammy inquisitively asked.

“They sure are,” Cathy excitedly responded which kinda took me by surprise.

“Are they, you know, any good ... playing drums and bass?” Jennifer asked with a smile.

“We only played a couple of songs with them,” I replied.

“But they both instantly picked on things, like we do, when Cuda played a brand new song at his church,” Lynette added before she took a swig from her Diet Coke can.

“That sounds mighty impressive,” Katie replied when she picked up on Lynette’s emphasized words. Lynette gave me a subtle wink, acknowledging that I just so happened to share the Energists’ power enhancement with those two girls like I had done with each of our current band members.

“They’re not too shabby on the softball field, either,” Lynette offered as our band members and the Labatts seemed excited at the prospect of finding good people to replace Cathy and Paul, whenever that moment might occur.

“You got that right, Cano!” Paul exclaimed prior to stuffing another forkful of Mongolian beef and rice into his mouth.

“Cuda’s coed youth softball team ... they’re good enough to beat some competitive boys’ teams, in my opinion,” Lynette exclaimed.

“If you were playing third base for them, they definitely are,” Paul said between chews.

“I’m not so sure of that, Cano, Paul, but having really skilled girls on the infield sure increases your chances of winning coed softball games,” I stated after swallowing a bite of spicy Szechuan beef, and fried rice.

“If those girls are good people, then I can’t wait to meet them,” Katie said with a smile.

“We’re by no means trying to kick you to the curb, Cathy, Paul,” Lynette stated before she lifted a spoonful of hot and sour soup up to her lips.

“I know you’re not,” Cathy responded and put her hands on top of Lynette’s and Sammy’s hands, “But you guys ... this band is too good to not keep on rockin’. You’ll need some time to get Eda and Lisa up to speed on the songs we’ve, the ones we have somewhat down pat.”

“If they want to join our crew and can come to our practices, I wouldn’t mind sharing bass duties with Lisa,” Paul generously said.

“Really? You’d be okay with having Lisa, right? With Lisa here to split bass playing time with you,” Sammy asked her boyfriend.

“We obviously can’t help leaving you guys hangin’,” Cathy responded to Sammy’s question for her brother, who then added,

“Just like Lisa and Eda can’t help that they’ll need practice time to pick up on the songs we’ve already learned.”

“You guys,” I said with a huge smile on my face, “are really special, and, um ... I’m not sure what I’m gonna do when I have to break in a whole new group of neighbors.”

“With luck, your future neighbors will either be a young couple with three kids under the age of five, or some older couple with ten bratty grandkids,” Lynette chuckled which caused even Mr. and Mrs. Labatt to laugh at her suggested picks for my future neighbors.

“You’re just not right, Cano,” Jennifer said as she reached across the table to high-five my antagonistic girlfriend.

“Are Eda and Lisa on break this week?” Sammy asked.

“I think Montcalm is off this week,” I replied. With a slight frown, I added, “I have no clue, though, if St. Anne’s is on spring break.”

“Whoa!” Paul surprisingly said after my response, “Lisa is still in elementary school?”