Chapter 19: Mid-Course Correction

July 1978

Monday was the start of Summer school. I had arranged with Andreas to start work at 1:00pm and work until 5:00pm, and on Tuesday and Thursday I’d go straight from work to Doctor Mercer’s, because she had made special arrangements for me. I had been looking forward to this class for months.

There were twelve of us in the class. Larry, of course; Ralph and Ken from the chess team; Napoleon McCallum, who was a jock, but also a great student; Beth Pater, one of the smartest girls in the school; four eighth-grade guys I didn’t know; Linda Hill, a Freshman girl I knew slightly; and Jack Dieter, a Freshman that I had a few classes with. The class was being taught by Mr. Herbers, a math teacher from the High School.

In the classroom were 6 brand new computers — three Apple ][s and three TRS-80s. Mr. Herbers started off the class explaining how to hook up and turn on the computers. He then explained about how they worked in simple terms. Then our first programming lesson began. We would be learning a programming language called BASIC. When it came time to do exercises, we were told to choose partners because we’d need to be two to a computer. Beth leaned over and asked if I would be her partner. I had thought Larry and I would work together, but I agreed.

Beth and I worked through the two exercises, each taking turns. That day we were assigned to an Apple, and the next we’d be on a TRS-80. Beth and I were usually done first, and our short little programs worked correctly. I enjoyed working with her. She and I had been friendly rivals for eighth and ninth grade. Spanish kept me from competing with her for best GPA.

The four hours flew by. Melanie was my ride to work, and she’d pick me up afterwards. As I expected, Jennifer joined us. I was happy to see Kim when we arrived — this was her first day. Jennifer, Melanie, and I ate lunch, and they left, promising they’d be back to pick me up at 5:00pm.

Andreas brought me into the office and told me that from now on, when I made my deliveries and pickups, I would bring everything here to the office and count the money, and then bundle it up and put it in a gym bag. I’d have to keep records in special code, which he explained. It was simple enough, just had to memorize some symbols that represented the places I made the pickups.

I’d be getting an extra $50 in cash every week to go with my paycheck. My normal pay was $2.75 an hour, so that cash was a lot of money. Andreas indicated that there was a lot more where that came from in the future. I knew I was getting in deep now, but I liked the money and I liked the thrill. I still didn’t know what the new tasks for the school year would be.

Jennifer and Melanie picked me up and dropped me at home. After dinner, I wrote in my journal, watched some TV and read. I was taking it easy this week.

The rest of the week was the same, except for Tuesday and Thursday when I saw Doctor Mercer. She was happy with my progress and suggested we go to one day a week through the rest of the Summer. On Wednesday, I called Joyce, and we arranged to get together in a couple weeks. I also called Anna, but we hadn’t been able to find a way to see each other. She was disappointed, but she wasn’t blaming me. On Thursday, Bethany called to confirm our date.

On Friday night, Jennifer and I had a date. A real date. Her mom drove us. We ate at Frisch’s and had dessert at Graeter’s. Jennifer suggested we should see if the apartment was available, but I declined. That was too risky in my book. We ended up going roller skating and had a good time.

I worked a full day on Saturday and Jennifer joined me for lunch. Things were going well between us, and I was confident we were doing well. She seemed happy, and I knew that I was. The afternoon went quickly, and I pedaled home. I quickly showered and dressed for my date with Bethany.

At 5:00pm, the Krajicks arrived. Bethany’s parents were going out to dinner at a different restaurant and seeing a different movie. We’d meet up afterwards for the ride home. Bethany would know where they were, so if there were any issues, she could find them.

In Mariemont, her parents dropped us at the restaurant. Bethany and I ate and chatted. I didn’t detect any nervousness. I was probably more nervous than she was. She wanted to be treated like a normal girl, but that meant walking arm-in-arm, putting my arm around her in the movie, and potentially copping a feel. And of course, kisses. But I didn’t think she meant that. I needed to find out.

“When you asked me to treat you like a normal girl, what did you mean? I’m asking because that could mean just about anything and I don’t want to overstep or push.”

“First off, I know all about you, remember?”

“Jennifer. She confessed.”

“So you know where I got my information. That’s good, I guess. So I told you to treat me like a normal girl knowing all of that.”

“Uhm, are you ready for that?”

“It’s been two years. I’m tired of being treated with kid gloves. I need to be normal. You can help me. I picked you for a reason.”

I had misread this completely. She had a plan.

“Are you going to fill me in? Or do I have to guess?”

“Just treat me like you would a girl on a date.”

I wondered about that. I decided to try a bit of humor.

“I can do that. But just so you know, I have lines I don’t cross.”

“Oh? Such as?”

“I don’t have sex on the first date.”

She laughed. She had a sparkle in her eye.

“Jennifer told me. She said I should ask about the second date.”

“You two certainly have been talking. She said the same thing to me.”

“We have.”

“OK. If you can joke with me about this, I feel a little better. I’ll do my best. You tell me if I’m pushing too far too fast, or if you are uncomfortable. Promise?”

“Yes. So you’ll do it, though?”

“Treat you like a normal girl? Sure.”

“No, have sex with me. Not tonight. But when I ask.”

“I would have to absolutely believe you are ready before that can happen.”

“Jennifer said that, too. I trust you. And I’m sure. I need to feel normal and until I can do that, I won’t be normal.”

“I think you’re pushing this awfully fast,” I said.

“I’ve been thinking about it for months. Do you know why I was so nervous at the dance? Because I was thinking about that. Doctor Mercer is concerned, but she knows what I want. My parents don’t.”

“Well, several things Doctor Mercer said make sense now. But I can’t be your boyfriend, Bethany. You understand that, right?”

“Yes. But what I need is someone to help me fix myself so I can have a boyfriend. And Jennifer told me she’s OK with this.”

“I’m sure she is. But she really should have talked to me before she promised me to you. Despite how it seems, I don’t have sex with just anyone or on a whim. I think it through and decide if it’s right or not. She knows that. Despite all the girls I’ve been with, it’s never been just a physical act that I can do lightly.”

“So you’re saying you won’t do it?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I just don’t like Jennifer going behind my back to arrange for me to have sex with someone.”

“Let’s go see the movie. We have plenty of time to discuss this. Despite my joking with you, it’s not going to be this week. It might not even be next month. OK?”

I nodded, and we got up. I paid the bill and left the tip. As we walked out, I slipped my arm around her waist. She did the same and rested her head on my shoulder. Not a hint of nervousness. We walked over to the theater and I purchased two tickets for Foul Play starring Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn.

I bought a bucket of popcorn for us to share and two small Cokes. We found seats about two-thirds of the way back. I put my arm around her with my hand on her shoulder and she nestled as close as the seat would allow. She sighed contentedly. The movie started, and we watched like that, with me occasionally rubbing her shoulder. Bethany was laughing at the movie, and somewhat to my surprise was laughing at a scene with Dudley Moore that had several sex jokes and sight gags.

About three-fourths of the way through the film, she whispered, “Are you going to kiss me goodnight?”

“Yes,” I said softly.

“Can I have one now?”

I turned my face to her, she stretched and kissed me on the lips, very softly. I did the same to her. She smiled and turned back to watch the rest of the movie. The credits rolled, and we walked out of the theater, our arms around each other. We checked and the movie her parents had gone to see had fifteen minutes to go. We went outside and sat on a bench.

“Thanks for kissing me, I liked it.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You’re being too nice. You didn’t try to kiss me again. Is that what you normally do?”

“No, I’m sorry. Come here.”

I pulled her into an embrace and kissed her softly on the lips several times. I kissed her again, and this time held my lips pressed against hers. I felt her lips part slightly, so I did the same and gently probed with my tongue. She sighed into my mouth and our tongues touched and gently danced around each other. I moved my hand to her waist and gently slid it up her side, just barely brushing the side of her breast. She didn’t flinch or break the kiss. I broke it to talk to her.

“That was nice,” I said.

“Thank you. You can’t kiss me like that when you kiss me goodnight, OK?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it!”

“But a nice soft kiss that lasts ten seconds or so would be perfect. It’ll bother my dad, but not so much that he’ll get angry.”

“I understand.”

We sat there until the movie let out and we went to meet her parents. Bethany and I held hands on the ride home. When they dropped me off, Bethany got out of the car.

“Steve, please kiss me goodnight.”

I gave her a soft, gentle kiss that lasted about ten seconds, just as requested.

“Good night, Bethany. Thanks for going out with me.”

“Good night, Steve. Thanks for asking me out. I’d like to go out again.”

“OK. Call me and we’ll set something up.”

I went into the house. I called Mary, Jennifer, and Melanie to confirm for the baseball game on Sunday. Melanie would be driving.

I wrote a couple of pages in my journal about the day’s events. I’d need to talk to Doctor Mercer, and I wanted as much on paper as I could get. I slept well and dreamt of Bethany.

Sunday, July 16th was the Reds’ game. The girls arrived about 10:30am for the drive to Riverfront Stadium. The Reds were facing the Mets; I hated all the New York sports teams, and the Mets were no exception. Ever since the fight between Pete Rose and Bud Harrelson during the 1973 NLCS, I had an extra-special hatred for them. The Mets had already dropped the first two games, and I hoped the Reds could do a clean sweep of this 3-day series.

Our seats were Loge Boxes, in the first row of the upper deck about halfway down the third base line. We found our seats and settled in. I was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and my beat-up Reds’ cap. The girls were all wearing shorts and t-shirts, but only Melanie was wearing a cap. All three of them had sunglasses. I sat between Jennifer and Melanie, and Mary sat on Melanie’s other side.

Tom Hume was on the mound for the Reds. It didn’t take long for the Big Red Machine to kick into gear. They scored five runs in the first inning, and Pete Rose extended his hitting streak to 29 consecutive games. Even though Hume wasn’t having a good year so far with a 3-9 record, he was pitching well today and I was pretty confident in a five-run lead.

The girls attracted a lot of attention from the guys around us. One guy who looked to be around twenty-five asked me which one was my girlfriend.

Before I could answer, Melanie, with a huge grin on her face, said, “I guess you could say all of us!”

The guy just shook his head in disbelief.

Melanie, ever the troublemaker, continued, “In fact, he’s had sex with all of us!”

“Melanie, please!” I whispered urgently.

“This kid? If that’s true, by the looks of him, you need a real man.”

Now I knew it was trouble. That was something none of the girls would be willing to let slide. I knew it wouldn’t do any good to try to prevent them from teasing these guys.

“Well,” Jennifer smirked. “if you can give a girl nine orgasms in a single session, then you might be able to compete with him.”

“Bullshit!”

“Oh no, it’s true. He’s that good,” Mary said.

“Yeah, but there’s three of you!”

“He’s had me and another girl at the same time,” Melanie said, then kissed me on the cheek.