Chapter 7

My relationship with Kathy carried on. We went to class, I worked my job, she worked her weekends, and we got together to study (No! Really! I mean, looking back, we both DID successfully graduate Nursing school, and write the Boards. Therefore you can tell that we studied!).

From time to time, we would be caught up on our studies, have the day or night off, and we could, well, “play”. Although, to be truthful, well, with Kathy’s soft brown body as a reward, I studied religiously while on duty, and on clinical lunch breaks, in order to have as much time as possible with my girlfriend. She felt the same, and, working part time, had more opportunities to catch up, and forge ahead, than I did. (still, on nights, when you are not actually on a run, my employer did not really care if you read Louis L’Amour westerns, or Pathophysiology. So long as you responded promptly, and got on the way right quick like, things were pretty loose in those days. I got a lot of my reading done in the ambulance!)

So, I’d spend an afternoon at her house from time to time, where, under her mother’s watchful (yet surreptitious) eye, Kathy and I would study. I could help unwind some of the more abstract arcana of pharmacology, or pathophysiology, and she would help fine tune our test taking strategies.

Marie would pass by occasionally, sometimes offering us some lemonade, or some popcorn, or cookies, then retreating to the living room where her book awaited. Really, we didn’t require all THAT much supervision, because we had agreed that our happy fun times would be considerably more fun without the specter of unstudied assignments peering over our shoulders.

So, one Friday evening, studies completed for the week, we stood, and meandered into the living room. Marie placed her bookmark in place, and set her book to the side.

“Mom? Our homework is caught up, and Mark and I would like to go out for a couple of hours. We’ll go get a sandwich, and drive around for awhile. We ought be back around...” Kathy looked at me, and I supplied, “How does eleven o’clock sound?”

Marie smiled. “That ought to be fine. Don’t make too much noise when you come in. Now that you are caught up, what plans do you have for the weekend? Kathy, I know you have the weekend off. Mark, when do you work again?”

“Well, ma’am, I’m on start of the week nights this schedule, so Sunday night at 1900 I’m back in the firehouse.”

Marie grimaced. “And, that would be what time for those of us not in the fire department?”

“Uh, yeah. Right. Seven o’clock.”

“So, are you two planning on spending Saturday together?”

Kathy looked up at me, smile spread across her ocher face. “Yes, Mom. I even have my chores caught up!”

Marie looked away for a moment, and then turned to me. “Let’s sit in the kitchen.”

We settled into our chairs, Kathy and I anxious, while Marie appeared to gather her thoughts. “You kids have been seeing each other for a couple of months now, correct?”

Nearly together we responded, “Yes, Mom.”, “Affirmative!”

“I’ve seen Kathy’s grades: they are fine. How are your grades holding up, Mark?”

“Solid ‘B’, Ma’am. It’s a job, working full time and going to school, but I’m managing to keep up. Kathy has been very helpful, both in motivating me to hit the books, and helping me make sense of the hash that my lecture notes sometimes become.”

Marie nodded. “So, you are both keeping up your grades. No small accomplishment! Mark, I have to tell you something. When my daughter began to date you, I had some reservations. First off, to be honest, I feared that you would be a distraction for her, degrading her schoolwork. Secondly, well, you both have been out in the world enough to realize that some people do not approve of cross race relationships.”

I looked at Kathy, and then at Marie. “Well, there is one idiot on the department who not only disapproves, but feels free to run his mouth. He shared his thoughts with an old partner of mine, and, well, he got verbally shot down. Most of the rest of the guys on the road think he is arrogant and ignorant, and do what they can to have nothing to do with him. My partner, on the other hand, approves.” I looked at Kathy.