Chapter 8

After dinner and a quickie, we went back to my place to discuss our next adventure – our brother David.

This was going to take some delicacy, because we knew we had to contact our folks to get some data on David beforehand.

After discussing what to say, Linda lost the coin toss and picked up the phone. Using the speakerphone, she called our mother Lorraine, still spry at 77 years young.

“Hey Mom?” Linda said.

“Hi honey, how long has it been? How’s William?” mom responded.

“He’s doing fine, Mom, I have an odd question for you, if you don’t mind?”

“Sure honey, what is it?”

“David came ‘out of the closet’ in the 80s, right?”

“Oh, honey; yes - it was actually November 22, 1983! I remember because November 22 that year was the 20^th anniversary of JFKs assassination. Why do you ask?” she questioned.

“Oh, Marty and I were thinking of throwing him an anniversary of sorts – to commemorate his... 29 years ‘Out of the Closet,’” my darling sister said with nary a quaver in her voice.

“That’s strange -- but it sounds like a good idea anyway. Your father and I were quite astonished when he announced that he had a boyfriend. I barely kept your father from throwing him out of the house that evening. He was 22, I believe when it all happened. Your father and David haven’t talked to each other much since that evening,” mom noted.

“That’s too bad Mom, I’m sorry they have been on the outs for so long?” Linda ad-libbed beautifully.

“Well, you know what they say, ‘If I could do it over, I’d do it differently?’” mom said. “Is Martin with you?”

“Yeah, Mom – I’m right here,” I replied.

“Is there a time soon you two could come over for dinner, I haven’t seen ANY of my children in such a long time.”

Guilt works in all eras, doesn’t it?

“Sure Mom, how about tonight?” I responded thinking of getting my first good home-cooked meal since Jennifer went to her convention.

“Wonderful, bring a desert with you if you can, OK?” she asked.

“How about some Ranger Cookies from the store?” I said.

“Ranger Cookies; My - I haven’t thought of Ranger cookies since that nice young man came over all those years ago – sure, bring them if you’d like, I’m cooking Chicken ‘N’ Noodles. See you tonight at 6:30 all right?”

Together we said, “OK Mom.”

We had plenty of time to do some intelligence, so I talked Linda into letting me go back alone to talk to Davey. He might only be 14, but he may already be thinking of his sexuality; I know I was at 14.

“Marty, why don’t I go back with you as your sister? I could gather some info?” Linda asked.

“You really just want to see yourself at 18, don’t you?”

“Maybe – I could also become my own good friend, couldn’t I?”

“Come on,” I chuckled. “You know I can’t say no to you – I love you!”

“Awww, gimme a kiss?” she said.

We did, and we took the car to Doc’s. After making sure no one was home, we went inside to the basement.

“OK Linda – now you know it was me who was Danny, so I hope you don’t mind my flirting with you as an 18-year-old. I may need to talk to her for a while to grease the skids to talk to Davey, OK?”

“All right, I may just flirt with Daddy!” she said unable to hold back a big laugh.

Back to 1975 again, but this time we added a week to when I was there before, June 1, 1975 at 3pm.

We were on our way to the house, as Linda brought up something I hadn’t considered.

“Marty, what if the 1975 Martin is at the house?”

“I ... wasn’t! I didn’t get out of USM that summer, going right from classes to tennis practices and tournaments. We should be OK?”

“We met Mom and Dad at Susan’s wedding, so be prepared?” I reminded.

I knocked on the door and it quickly opened to the amazing smile of my sister Linda, whose eyes got real big as she said, “DANNY – I thought I’d never see you again!”

I picked her up and twirled her a bit and set her down.

“This is my sister, her name is Jennifer,” I said.

The two of them were sizing up each as we went through the door.

Mom walked in from the kitchen, in an apron and flour on her hands.

“Daniel, so nice to see you again, and who’s this pretty young lady?” she said.

Offering her hand, “I’m his sister, Jennifer. Linda is my middle name.”

Nice thinking on your feet, sis.

“Well, come on in – David shut the door, please?” mom asked.

I saw Davey bounce in and close the door. He stood by me as I ran my hand through his mop of hair saying, “That’s getting pretty long, Davey!”

“It’s summertime. Schools out, so I’m letting it grow all summer,” he said sounding very sure of himself.

“Good idea, kiddo – I need to talk to your sister for a bit; I’d like to talk to you as well, I have some secrets to share with you, OK?”

“Sure thing, Danny – I’ll be in my room working on a model, come in when you can. It sure is good to see you again. Linda’s been moping around the house all week waiting by the phone,” he said.

I saw both Linda and Jennifer blush at that remark. Jennifer took mom into the kitchen to help prepare dinner as Linda and I sat down on the sofa.

“What happened to you Danny, I was really worried. I thought I scared you off,” she said.

“Just the opposite Linda, I felt something for you that I never felt before. I had to leave before I did something we would both regret.”

“Oh, Danny – that’s so sweet. I have got good news for you, I have been accepted to all four of the colleges I applied to; Marquette U, in Milwaukee; Cal Berkeley in California; the University of Wisconsin system, my choice – and Ohio State University; isn’t that amazing?” she said - she was so excited.

I got up and said, “I’ll be right back, gotta ask my sister something, OK?”

“OK, but you better be back, I had Davey lock the door to keep you here!”

I walked into the kitchen to see my Linda and my mother laughing and making noodles together. I motioned my girl to come over to me for a quick second.

“Yes, what is it, Danny?” she said giggling as she walked over to me.

“What university did you go to?” I asked quietly.

“The University of Wisconsin in Green Bay, why?”

“Thanks, I’ll explain later; oh, was that your first choice?”

“No, I wanted to go to USM, so I would see you from time to time. I really missed you when you went to college,” she whispered.

“So, you met William at UW Green Bay?” I followed up.

“OH, boy – I know that look, Mart ... Danny. Tell me later OK? Lorraine, my big brother can’t seem to make any decision by himself, these days.”

They both laughed heartily.

I left to go back to the Linda on the sofa.

“You took long enough, Danny,” she said with the biggest grin.

“Well, which of those colleges is your first choice?” I asked sitting down next to her.

“Well, I guess – The University of Wisconsin system looks really nice, and the Green Bay campus really suits me,” she responded.

“Well, your brother and I both have a year left at the University School of Milwaukee. You could see him more often and ... we could see each other if you went there?” I flirted.

Her eyes got so big as she realized what it could mean, us together at the same university. She grabbed me and gave me a great big kiss, causing Davey to come out, and the ladies in the kitchen to walk out as well. They all smiled as mom said, “Kids, your father won’t be back until tomorrow, so dinner is in ten minutes. Danny and Jennifer, you are invited to join us for dinner if you would like?”

“Thank you, Lorraine,” I said as Davey showed me where the bathroom was to wash up.

As I put soap on my hands, I asked Davey, “You got a girlfriend?”

“No, girls don’t seem to like me, so...”

“So, what?” I asked.

“Nothin’?” he answered.

“You are only 14,” I said.

“Oh, how did you know that?” he replied.

“Your sister told me,” I said scrambling for a moment.

“Did you have a girlfriend at 14, Danny?” he asked as we were drying our hands off with a towel.

“No, there were girls I liked but I didn’t have the guts to actually talk to one them until I turned sixteen. Then, because I got on the tennis team, suddenly girls seemed to be everywhere, flirting, batting their eyes – all of that girly stuff.”

“BOYS, DINNER!”

We left the bathroom and Davey said, “Thanks for the talk, Danny?”

“We’ll talk more after dinner OK, girls are a very complicated subject and it takes at least two guys to figure out one girl,” I said as we all sat around the table.

“Are you turning my little brother into a wolf?” Linda said.

“No – just giving him some pointers on how to determine when he has found ‘the one,’” I responded.

“Daniel, he is only fourteen years old, please be responsible talking to him,” Lorraine expressed.

“Sure thing Mrs. M,” I replied.

Mom said the prayer and we dug in to the first batch of chicken and noodles I’d had in over five years.

“Lorraine, this is the best noodle recipe ever, could I get it from you to make for my college buddies?” I asked.

“Yes, of course Daniel, thank you – you remind me so much of Martin,” she said.

“I will take that as a compliment, you kind of remind me of my mom, except her hair’s real long,” I said.

“Well Linda, of all of the scraggly boys you have pulled into our house, Daniel is easily the nicest, and he might just be the most handsome as well,” mom said blushing a bit.

“MOM,” Linda said. “I found him first?”

“Lorraine; Danny and I have to get back to where we’re staying, but this dinner is really good. I have always wanted to have some dinners I knew how to make, and this would be a blast to make with my mom,” she said.

“That’s so sweet of you Jennifer, you two are welcome here anytime,” Lorraine said.

“Oh, Mom – Danny helped me with my college choice. The University School of Milwaukee is where I want to go to college,” Linda said.

“That’s wonderful dear, besides seeing your brother more often, you’ll get to see Daniel as well, won’t you?” mom teased.

I got a look from both Linda’s; the 1975 Linda had a real puppy dog look on her face, while the 2012 Linda had a smirk the entire width of her mouth.

We finished up dinner, I helped mom with the dishes, Linda with some curriculum choices, and Davey – who had a greater appreciation of being a fourteen-year-old boy.

I pulled him aside and suggested he take some of the allowance money he got, and as often as possible go buy a quarter or half ounce of gold. I told him to tell his dad he had the idea. I gave him the speculative news that gold now in 1975 is only a little over a hundred dollars an ounce, but it can only get more value if he waits out the Gold Market. We gave each other a great big hug as I saw my sister gather her purse up.