Chapter 22: Leave

I told my family to stay there, and I would get my gear and catch up to them. Kelly offered to follow me, but I had to explain that women were not allowed in the barracks, no way, no how! Luckily there was a parking lot near the barracks that would allow me to load my gear up. Dad had driven down in the F-150, so we could toss my stuff in the back and then ride home.

The ride home was mostly taken up with my parents and Kelly asking me about the Army and my training. What did I do, what did the stuff on my uniform mean, what would I be doing, when and where I would be doing it, and so forth. I had some of the answers at least. I explained my travel plans, and that I would be heading to Fort Drum to join the Tenth Mountain Division. After that, though, it would be a mystery. My understanding was that once I got to the Tenth, I would report to something called the Replacement Company, which would process me into the system and send me where I was going. I probably wouldn’t have much say about it.

I looked at Kelly, snuggling next to me on the crew seat. “By the way, what are you doing here? This is a Friday. Don’t you have to be in school?”

She gave me a dramatic pout. “Don’t you want me here?”

“Don’t you start getting smart on me. You know what I mean.”

She laughed. “Grim, I’ll always be smart on you!” She laughed some more and said, “It’s actually pretty easy. I spend about half my time over at Matucket State, so I have a pretty flexible schedule. Nobody cares over there, and I simply explained what I needed to do to Mrs. Hollister at Matucket High and she gave me permission. Monday morning, though, I have to be back at school. Until then, I am spending all my time with you!”

“I like that idea,” I replied, adding a kiss in the process. “Maybe I can borrow Mom’s Sienna after the game.”

“You’ll have to take that up with your brother Jack,” came from the front seat. “He’s got his license now and has been driving it. First, though, let’s get some lunch and then head home. You can bring your stuff into the house.”

“I’ve got my car. We can use that,” said Kelly.

Lunch was at a barbecue place in LaGrange, near where Kelly and I had taken our vacation that summer. That got me to thinking all sorts of things, and I glanced over at her and wiggled my eyebrows. Her eyes lit up and she grinned back and nodded. My monastic existence was going to come to a screeching halt later that evening!

Arriving back at the old homestead was a little disconcerting. Everything looked normal, and Duke happily greeted me and begged me to rub his belly. No, the disconcerting part was that I didn’t have a room anymore! My bed was still in the bedroom I shared with Jack, but he had basically taken the room over. He had been joking about that before I had left for Fort Benning, but it hadn’t been a joke!

Mom noticed my look and said, “When your brother gets home, we’ll make sure he cleans up some.”

I nodded but shrugged. “It’s not like this is unexpected, Mom. Let’s face it, this time next week I’ll be in New York. It’ll be more likely that we’ll be packing stuff and shipping it up there. We’re going to have to sort this stuff out. Still, I should probably kick Jack’s butt over this.”

She smiled at that. “You might want to think that one over a bit. Your brother is still growing. He’s already bigger than you, and I’m not really sure where he’s going to stop!” Kelly and Dad agreed with her.

I laughed and shook my head. I tossed my gear onto my old bed, now partially covered with my brother’s shit, and we went back downstairs. I went down to the family room with Kelly in tow. I stripped off my uniform jacket and tie and plopped down onto the old couch. Before Kelly could join me, Duke jumped into my lap, so I played with him for a few minutes before I could send him off. Once he was off my lap, Kelly took his place.

“Are you planning to lick my face while I rub your tummy?” I asked.

Her eyes lit up. “That sounds kinky! Does that mean we have to do it doggy style later?”

“I have to admit that thought came to mind. Still, where? The Miata is not exactly built for romance.”

“How about a motel room? Can we do the Motel 6 thing?” she asked, referring to the last few big dances my senior year, when I paid off a buddy at the Motel 6 and got a room for the night.

I sighed and shrugged. “I suppose so, but it feels like we’d be sneaking around. I mean, last summer we went away on our own for a week, and here we are going to rent a room by the hour and get you home in the morning. I don’t like it.”

“Well, what do you want to do instead?” Kelly twisted around slightly and rubbed a hand across my chest.

I was suddenly assaulted by her perfume, which was subtle but seemed to go straight from my nose to a place a lot lower on my anatomy. I was also looking through her sheer blouse and I realized that under it she wore a beautiful lace camisole - and nothing else!

“Babe, for you I’ll do it! I was just hoping for breakfast in bed, you know?” We had done that over the summer on our boat trip, even if it was just energy bars and Cokes, and the bed had been the size of a postage stamp. Kelly tended to get crumbs on everything, and we had to lick them off each other.

She looked at me seriously. “What about if I tell my mom that I’m staying with you for a few days? She let me stay with you in June.”

I couldn’t argue with that idea. “Maybe we could do something that has room service, real room service. Power bars and Coke isn’t what I had in mind.”

She gave me a wicked grin. “I thought it was a pretty enjoyable meal.”

I grinned and nodded, and then kissed her thoroughly. “I wonder if the Armonk House has room service?”

“Grim! That place costs a fortune!”

“I’m rich! I can afford it.”

“Since when?”

“Since I haven’t spent a dime since I went into the Army. I have over three months’ pay in my bank account. Let’s spend some of it!”

“You want to explain that?”

It took me a minute or two. As a Private E-1, I made $1,064.70 a month, which didn’t sound like all that much, but I hadn’t had a single expense for over three months. As long as I stayed on base, which was required as a trainee recruit, I paid no room or board. I didn’t have rent, I didn’t pay for meals, and I didn’t pay for insurance or medical treatment. I didn’t even pay for clothing since the Army provided my uniforms. I had gone to Basic training with two tens and a five in my wallet, and they were still there. Furthermore, the Army had gone totally direct deposit. I didn’t have any credit cards, but I did have a debit card, and I hadn’t taken that out of my wallet either. Adding in what money I had before enlisting, I had almost $4,000 in the bank! “I can afford the Armonk House for a long weekend, babe,” I finished.

Kelly’s eyes popped open at that. “Grim, I want you to be careful. You can’t just blow everything in a wild weekend! Promise me!”

“Sure thing, babe. No wild weekends without you, anyway. Just how wild did you want to get?”

“Grim!”

I smiled at her. “How about a room for as long as I am home? Next Thursday I am gone anyway. Can you stay with me for that long?”

“Let me ask my mother. She can kill the idea anyway.” She gave me a sly smile. “Just how much should I pack if she says yes?”

“I think a very small bag would be sufficient. Very small!”

She giggled. “Sounds like you plan on making up for the last few months.”

“And the next few. I probably won’t be able to see you again until Christmas.”

“Well, I’ll see what I can do to help you store up a few memories.” She leaned in and whispered into my ear, “I also bought a couple of nighties, in case we had a chance to go away for a few days like we did in the summer.” She licked my earlobe and I had trouble breathing.

Kelly popped off my lap. “Let me go back home and talk to Mom. I’ll meet you at the game tonight. I’ll call you if you need to pack a bag.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Kelly took off, and I got my breathing back under control and my erection to subside. I went back upstairs to the kitchen. Mom was in the kitchen. “Kelly leave?”

“She’ll meet me at the game later. Mom, I think I’m just going to let Jack keep the room as he wants it. I might be staying elsewhere this week.”

She looked at me. “Where might that be? At Kelly’s? Sharon O’Connor is going to let you stay with Kelly?”

I shook my head. “No, but maybe somewhere else. We’re working out the details. I just don’t want to be sneaking in and out of the house like a criminal. I’m eighteen now, Mom, and I shouldn’t have to sneak around.”

“You might be eighteen, but your brothers aren’t, and they look up to you.” Then she smiled and added, “Well, maybe not Jack. He looks down to you now, but you know what I mean. And Kelly, she’s only seventeen.” She shrugged. “It’s not like we don’t know about you two. Just do us a favor and try to spend some time with your aged and ancient parents. Trust me, the two of you won’t be able to do that for twenty-four hours a day, no matter how long you’ve been apart!”

“Mom!” I exclaimed, a little shocked. Then I grinned, “Still, it’s a worthy goal, hmmm? If I have to die, that’s what I want to die trying!”

“OUT!” She shooed me out of the kitchen, shaking her head at me.

Half an hour later Kelly called. Her mother had agreed to let her stay with me, but only for the weekend. She had to be back at school on Monday, and she wasn’t sure if we would be able to see each other during the school week. “What about you?” she asked.

“I’m good. I’ll pack a bag. Swing by the house and pick me up. I’ll throw some stuff in a bag.”

After we hung up, I went upstairs and sorted through my civilian clothing. I had to look for it, since Jack had taken over my dresser; I found it in several large storage bins in my closet. Yet another reason to kick my brother’s ass. I pulled out some jeans and a pair of sports shirts, and tossed them into a gym bag, along with some shoes and socks and underwear and stuff. I even tried on a sports coat and found it still fit, so I tossed it and a dress shirt in as well. Maybe I could take Kelly someplace nice for dinner. Luckily most of my civvie clothes still fit me. I had been in pretty good shape before I went into the Army, so I hadn’t really lost any weight or changed sizes. Some of the guys had lost ten or twenty pounds, and their old clothing just hung on them now.

I went down the stairs just as Bobbie Joe was coming home. “Hey! Look what the cat dragged in!” he said.

“Yeah, I got a letter from Mom saying that a certain little pipsqueak needed his ass kicked, and I was just the man for the job.”

“Yeah? Go ahead and try it! Jack told me he’d be happy to take you on if you started getting too big for your britches.”

“Oh, really? That’s your plan? Get Jack and me to go at it?”

Bobbie Joe laughed. “Yeah. I figure if I can get you two fighting, one of you will be dead and the other will be in jail, and then I can get the larger bedroom!”

“You really are a little asshole!” I responded, making a grab for him.

Bobbie Joe jumped back down the stairs and ran into the kitchen. “Mom’ll protect me. She likes me!” he said, hiding behind her. It wasn’t much protection, though, since even though Bobbie Joe would never be as big as me or Jack, he still was taller than our mother.

Mom snorted and looked at the pair of us. “I don’t like you all that much. Fight your own battles. Now, scoot, the pair of you!”

We went into the living room, where Bobbie Joe asked me a bunch of questions about the Army. We were interrupted after a bit by a horn honking outside, and I looked and saw Kelly pulling up. “See you at the game!” I yelled, and then I grabbed my bag and left.

Kelly popped the trunk, and I tossed my bag in alongside hers. The first thing we did was head over to the Armonk House. She parked and I got out. “You coming?” I asked.

“If I go in there with you, we’ll never make it to the game!” she answered.

“I’ll tell you what I told my mom when I get back.” I went in and registered and got a room through Monday morning. I figured that as long as Kelly got to school Monday morning, there wouldn’t be a problem staying Sunday night. The clerk never blinked at my age, but just processed my debit card like any other guest. He asked whether I wanted a room or a suite, and when I asked for the difference, I balked at the suite. It sounded to me like it just added a small living room to what had been a perfectly acceptable room when I had stayed there before, and the price went from high to exorbitant. The room would be just fine. The only problem came when I had to jot down Kelly’s license plate number. “Don’t know. I’ll have to go and check,” I said.

The clerk shrugged. “No sweat. Just write down the make and model, that’ll be good enough. Will you be wanting any dinner reservations during your stay, sir?” he asked.

“I don’t think so...,” I answered, “ ... but that might change.”

He pointed over at a sign near the dining room. “Perhaps the Sunday Brunch? That’s very popular.”

That sounded like a good idea. The Sunday Brunch at the Armonk House was noted for being both humongous and delicious, and for being more than a little pricey. On the other hand, it would give Kelly and me an excellent reason to lounge around in bed and know we had a good meal waiting. I made reservations for the brunch.

I went back outside with our key cards in my pocket. “All set, babe. Where now?”

“Let’s go watch a football game.” She put the Miata in Drive and we headed over to Matucket High.

The stands were starting to fill up when we got there, and the buses from Alpharetta were already in the parking lot, so the Raiders must have been in the girls’ locker room. We found my parents in the stands and went up to sit with them. “So, are they any good this year, or did the glory die out with the state championship last year?” I asked.

Dad snorted and shook his head. “It’s nice to see somebody so humble. No, they’re doing just fine. They’re undefeated so far.”

“They spanked East Matucket,” added Kelly. “There was actually some sort of scandal about that.”

“A football scandal in Matucket? This ought to be good,” I answered.

Dad smiled. “We had an official recruiting scandal!”

“Get out! For real?”

“For real!”

“Coach Summers?”

“No, not Matucket. East Matucket.”

“Tell me!”

In the Georgia State High School Association, which ran the high school sports programs, there were all sorts of rules about who was allowed to play for what teams. Some of it was the pretty normal stuff, like you had to keep your grades up, and if you got kicked off a team you couldn’t play elsewhere. I remembered learning about some of that when Randy Holden ended up playing at East Matucket after getting kicked out of Matucket. One big no-no was that you weren’t allowed to pinch other school’s players. There were no recruitment bonuses or money. You couldn’t offer much more than to waive any out-of-district penalties that might apply or supply bus transportation.

For years East Matucket had been recruiting students from the Matucket side of the line to play for them. Sometimes this worked, and sometimes it didn’t. We knew for a fact that Speed Demon had been recruited by them but had turned the offer down. For the last couple of years, it hadn’t mattered in any case since we had smashed them early on. Now the Matucket High team had the better reputation, and a great young football player in Matucket wasn’t as likely to be swayed to cross over to East Matucket, farther from home and surrounded by snobs who didn’t want to associate with him. Not to worry, though, since the richer members of the East Matucket High Booster Club understood the principles of persuasion and inducement, and simply offered money, or at least a few expensive cars, to some needy players from the poor side of town. What they didn’t understand was that teenagers blab, and all it took was one kid to tell a friend, who told another friend, who told yet another friend. Sooner or later, it got to the attention of somebody over at the Matucket Times-Dispatch, who did a little investigating and wrote up a story in the newspaper. That got the state high school bosses looking into the problem, and the result was a major scandal. East Matucket was banned from any recruiting across district lines for two years, and barred from any playoff games for one year, and their coach was fired, and the Booster Club was publicly admonished. Meanwhile, the two players who had been recruited were now playing for the Pioneers and looked as good as anybody who had been playing for us in the last few years.

Mom also told me that Coach Summers had told her and Dad that Jack was going to be recruited by some Division I schools. He had only gotten better this year, and his stats were at or near the top of the list for all linebackers in Georgia. He was still too young to go to college and play, but they had to start paying attention, so that he got the best deal he could next year. I felt vaguely jealous of him.

That took up most of the time before the game. Sooner than I thought, I heard the band playing and the Pioneers came rushing onto the field through their breakaway banner, and we all got to our feet and cheered them on. “Save my seat!” I yelled over the noise, and I climbed down out of the stands. I figured I’d be able to say hello to the guys and to Coach Summers. At the bottom I stepped to the ground and headed for the sidelines and was stopped by a Matucket Police officer.

“Sorry, no spectators on the field.”

“Hey, I just want to say hello. I was on the team last year,” I explained.

“No excuses, sir.”

“Okay. Just go over there and tell Coach Summers the Grim Reaper is back. He’ll know me.”

The cop didn’t budge. “You need to sit down, sir, or leave.”

Shit! I moved sideways and yelled out, “COACH SUMMERS! IT’S THE GRIM REAPER!”

The police officer grabbed my arm. “Okay, buddy, you’re out of here!”

“Hey, let me go!”

He motioned to another cop to grab me, but before that happened, Coach Summers came over, a big smile on his face. “Grim! Good to see you!” He turned to the cop and said, “You can let him in.”

“No, sir, no spectators on the field.”

“I said he can come in, so let him in!” repeated Coach Summers.

The police officer let go of me with a scowl, and I hopped over the fence. I hugged Coach and then went over to the team, greeting everybody and getting my shoulders and back pounded on. I knew most of the guys. Jack was there, and Mom was right, the little bastard wasn’t so little any longer. He must have been six-three by now, and about two-thirty, and was still growing. Bobbie Joe was right, too, in that if we ever got into it, one of us was going to get killed, and soldier or not, I wasn’t too sure about my chances anymore!

I stayed there until the game started, then hopped back over the fence. Coach Summers told me politely that he didn’t need me kibitzing during the game, but to make sure I looked him up at the end. I gave him a thumbs up and headed back to the stands.

“What was that bit with the police officer?” asked Kelly.

“I have apparently violated the criminal code of Georgia by consorting with football players.” I told her what happened.

She rolled her eyes at me. “You go to jail; you’re not going to the Armonk House!”

“Then I’d better not go to jail! Oh, by the way, I made reservations for their Sunday Brunch.”

That earned me a big grin and a kiss. Kelly said she had been there once or twice for that, with her parents, and that it was very nice.

We beat the Raiders 24-9, and Jack sacked the Raider quarterback three times and made a fumble recovery that led directly to a Pioneer touchdown. After the game Kelly and I went down and said hello to Coach Summers again. “Coach, how come you’re still here?” I asked. “After winning State last year, I figured some college would come calling.”

“They did, Grim.”

“So? Not enough money?”

“Grim, it’s not about the money. I’ve been recruited before. I’m still here. Caroline and I like it here. It’s a good place to raise our kids. And I like to think I have an effect on you guys, and not just on the field. I might not have that somewhere else.”

“Huh. Hey, none of my business. I didn’t mean to pry.”

“That’s all right. How’s the Army treating you?”

I gave him a wry smile. “Ask me again after I report to Fort Drum. I’ll probably freeze my butt off in the snow up there!”

“Another good reason to stay in Matucket. The last bunch who wanted me was in Montana!” laughed Coach Summers.

After that Kelly and I said good-bye to my parents, and we followed the team over to the Pizza Palace. We weren’t planning on staying long, but it would be good to see the old crew again. Kelly still hung around with them, at least when she was at Matucket High, but I hadn’t seen them in months.

We only stayed long enough to grab a couple of slices of pepperoni pizza and a Coke. It felt a little strange to me. I wasn’t really part of the old gang any longer. Kelly still was, but without me around she was more hanger-on than participant. I don’t think she really noticed, though, since girlfriends were always just one step removed. Now I was just another old fart looking back on the glory days. I had moved on. After about fifteen minutes we said good-bye and left.

Kelly led the way to her car. “Who was the girl with Jack?” I asked.

“His latest girlfriend. I’m not completely sure of the name. Janice, Janet, something like that, anyway. She’s a sophomore. She’s a cheerleader, of course.”

“That boy’s going to get hung by the cheerleading squad at some point,” I remarked.

“The jury will certainly rule it justifiable homicide,” she answered.

From the Pizza Palace to the Armonk House was no more than ten minutes, and we spent the drive chatting about my brother’s romantic entanglements. We also talked about Bobbie Joe, who now had a girlfriend, his first serious one, though Kelly didn’t think it would last. Once we got to the Armonk House we parked, and Kelly popped the trunk. I was assigned to carry bags, my one and her two. Kelly had her purse and, most importantly, her key card to the room.

She opened the door to our room and stepped inside, flicking the light switch as she went. I followed and the spring-loaded door shut softly behind us. I looked around. It was similar to the room we had stayed in before. A single room with a gigantic bed and some furniture around the edges. I almost set the bags down on the bed, but I looked at Kelly, who was smiling and beginning to unbutton her blouse. She had her priorities straight! I set the bags on the floor and went over to her.