Chapter 3: Summer Time

One of the great things about the 1980s was, to many, the music. Blondie's "Call Me", Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", Lipps Inc.'s "Funky Town", and many others. You couldn't go to out without hearing something great on the radio. Then again, people who were young in early 1980s had so much going for them. The world was relatively peaceful, though there were those hostages in Iran until they were released after Reagan was sworn in as POTUS. The economy seemed to be doing well. The down side was that the Mustang II was ugly. There is so much being glossed over here, but that's how stories are. Needless to say, David enjoyed the return to those "glory" days.

With the tests out of the way, and Summer finally having arrived, David and Meri got together daily. They discussed what they wanted to do for the summer and came up with a plan. Meri's family had a camp on the Great Sacandaga Lake, a man-made reservoir, with water rights, which afforded them a bit of beach, a place to sun and tie up a small boat. Most Summers, when she was younger, her family went up there for the entire Summer, only coming back to Holland Patent to get ready for the coming school year. By 1980, the family had stopped Summering up at the camp, and instead went up on the occassional weekend. They didn't feel the need to hang out with any of their friends from school, as they would have in their past round of life. Instead, they wanted to spend the time together, and working on learning what they could over the next few months, and enjoying the peace and quiet that would be afforded them up at the camp. With that in mind, they got their parents together to discuss the idea.

Dinner at the Wilson's house was a casual affair, in that it was done typical family style. David and his mother brought over a fresh baked apple pie for dessert, which would be served with vanilla ice cream, and/or some slices of cheddar cheese. Dinner was made by Julia with Meri's assistance and consisted of pork chops, home made apple sauce that Julia had canned the year before, corn on the cob, and home made rolls. They chatted about school, the coming year and going to Notre Dame, and eventually moved on to plans for the Summer.

David took the lead at that point, "Mom, Mr. and Mrs Wilson, Meri and I were wondering if you would be willing to allow the two of us to use the camp for the Summer."

"Don't you think you're too young to be staying alone like that?" This question was posed by Walter, Meri's father.

"With most teens, we understand your concerns. We would really appreciate it if you would allow us the opportunity to convince you to allow this request, Sir," was David's respectful reply.

"Well, by the looks on your mothers' faces, I can see that neither of of them are very agreeable. However, in all fairness, I believe we should hear you out. We may not agree to granting your request, but it doesn't hurt to listen. Let's have it, 'Son'."

"We've discussed this in a bit of detail. Some reasons for wanting to go up there for the Summer are easy to figure out. One area of interest is the beach for the Sun, the swimming, and boating. Another is for the peace and quiet. Neither of us is interested in hanging out with our peers, cruising in our cars, and the like. We have goals. We intend to spend a significant portion of the Summer studying. I'm planning on getting a hold of some used college text books on Geometry, Trigonometry, and Calculus, as well as, US History, World History, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics for us to study."

"That's all well and good, David," his mother started, "but, you're still asking us to accept the two of you, both young adults, to be at the camp without supervision. I just don't see that as reasonable. I love you and trust you, (both of you), but you're both young and parents are going to worry about possible problems from such a situation."

"We understand where you're coming from, Sandy," Meri said as she took over the conversation. "What we would like to point out is that we wouldn't really be alone. The DeSilvas, long time family friends, live there full time less than a stone's throw away. They'd be able to keep an eye on things and would know if we were throwing wild parties or getting into trouble.

"We also know that, while none of you are likely to come out and say it directly, you worry that two teens on their own, without parental supervision, might become sexually active." She smiled at the looks the parents all shared. "It's every parents' worry. Well, every good and caring parent. There is nothing to worry about with David and me."

"That's 'David and I' honey," her mother broke in.

"Actually, Mrs. Wilson, she was correct. If you drop 'David and' from it, it would sound wrong ending the sentence with the personal pronoun of 'I'", David said.

"David," came Mr. Wilson's response, "it's not a good idea to correct us when you're asking us to allow you to live together for the Summer with little supervision."

"Mr. Wilson, I wouldn't correct someone just to be contrary. I know Mrs. Wilson is very proper about language use. My correction isn't meant to be impudent. It's simply to show that I do pay attention, and while I know that there's a silly rule that says it should be the way she stated it should be, there are many who say otherwise, English professors and scholars, in fact. Their reasoning is exactly as I stated. To me, it's information shared and gained. Nothing more, nothing less. I mean no disrespect, to either of you."

"Still, since the subject of sex has been brought up... , " began Sandy, "It is a concern. We'd love to believe you're perfect angels and that you'd never do anything to shame us, or yourselves. I, for one, however, find it difficult to believe you're going to try to convince us that you'll not engage in a sexual relationship, if allowed to live alone as you are suggesting."

To this, Meri responded, (to the surprise of all three parents), with, "We've no intention of attempting to make you believe any such thing. That would be silly!"

Aghast, Julia looked at her daughter, "Are you telling us you plan on having sex!?"

"Mom, we're human. We're in the middle of puberty with all the hormones that go with it. The cravings and drive are there. The difference is that we're not going to lie and say it won't happen. In fact, if you consider all the freedom we've been provided since David got out of the hospital, would it really surprise you to find out we were already intimately engaged?"

This was a bit much for both mothers who started to get very flustered and started to babel, but Mr. Wilson got them to calm down and then pointedly looked at the two young adults, "Are you telling us that you're already sexually involved?"

It was David who responded, this time, "No, Sir. She's only pointing out that if we were so inclined that we've already had all the freedom to do so. Neither are we saying we haven't. I would no more share that kind of information with any friends than I would with the rest of you here. What happens between the two of us is our business, so long as we do nothing to shame any of us.