Chapter 7

[Tuesday, June 24th, 1986]

I woke up and looked over at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It showed 07:55 am. I climbed out of the waterbed and stretched. I was enjoying having this 18-year-old body again. I was still way too thin at this point in my life.

I remember my first Military ID showed my weight at 135 pounds. Which was about 10 pounds less than normal for me at the time. Sure, I was a bit of a beanpole, but not quite that bad. I figure all the exercise in basic made me lose more weight than I gained from exercising. I didn’t have any trouble with the physical side of Basic Training, I was probably in the best shape of my life somewhere in that first year in the service.

I just never kept up the active lifestyle and every year I added a few more pounds. On the way up in size I was probably the most comfortable around the 200-220 pound area.

I really should start doing something for exercise. Swimming would be my preference, but walking or maybe hiking might be an alternative I could get behind. I would never be a jogger. I always hated the running requirements in the service. Lifting weights might also be acceptable, I’ll have to look into that. Try to start some sort of regimen soon, something to be more active.

I dressed in the shorts I bought the other day with Kim as well as a faded blue Grateful Dead t-shirt I stole from my older brother. I headed downstairs and noticed the smell of baked goods as soon as I opened my door. That lightened my step as I headed to the kitchen.

Marybeth was at the table eating a Blueberry Muffin. The tray was sitting on the top of the stove with most of a dozen still in it. I told her, “You are my favorite sister.”

She laughed, “Hah! That’s just because the others are gone and Anne is only six and can’t cook anything yet.” I smiled and replied, “You are not wrong, but you are pretty great, and these do smell awesome. May I?”

She grinned and said, “Help yourself.” I got myself situated with a glass of milk and a muffin. It was still steaming warm, so a little butter on it melted in right away and made for a great breakfast. I had two of them.

I heard what sounded like Anne coming downstairs. I smiled as I saw her and said, “Good morning Anna Banana.” She smiled and hugged me. She was always good for a hug. I asked her if she wanted a muffin, but she was more interested in some Lucky Charms.

I got her set up, then started making trips out to unload the car. Marybeth commented, “Wow, that’s a lot of stuff, Mom said something about you going shopping, but I had no idea you were replacing everything.”

I told her, “I’m not replacing everything. I just decided it was time to upgrade a bit. You remember Kim Murphy right? She helped me pick things out.” Marybeth said, “Kim Murphy huh? What happened to Lisa?”

“I don’t think we’ll be seeing much more of Lisa,” I replied. Anne gave me a look and said, “What’s wrong with Lisa? I liked her.” I stopped and explained, “Well sweety, she and I broke up again, and I don’t think we are going to be dating anymore.”

“Hey, speaking of Lisa, I have a bunch of stuffed animals that she probably would want you to have. They are up in my room. Why don’t you come and help me look at them and see if there are any you like.”

Shockingly, she liked each and every one of them, go figure.

I finished up making trips to the attic and got everything put away, or put in the laundry pile to be washed first as the case may be. I brought the laundry downstairs, along with that box of trash that I had been ignoring all week, and put them in the proper place to be dealt with by professionals.

I can do laundry just fine thank you, but go ahead and tell me you wouldn’t let your Mom handle it for you if you were in my shoes. Yeah, I didn’t think so. In between trips I noted that Mike and Anne were heading back over to the Hummels, there was a trip to Moosup Pond in the works. They would be gone until dinner time.

I headed back downstairs, and my brother David had made an appearance. He was working on a muffin of his own. I looked and couldn’t see Marybeth around, so we could have a private conversation. I said, “Hey” and he just grunted as his mouth was full. I asked him, “Who do you know that’s big on the Dog Track, or betting on other things? I can’t think of anybody.”

He said, “You mean like sports? Or do you mean like cards and dice?”

I answered, “Well any of those might work. I’m hoping for a contact that can point me to a bookie or something like that, or maybe get me into a good poker game. Barring that, I’d want to work with someone who’s not a lowlife, but might be willing and able to place bets for me at the track.”

He shook his head, “Mom is gonna kill you if she hears about this.”

“You let me worry about that, I know you’re not gonna tell her.” I said, “So what do you think? Know any decent contacts in that area?”

“Maybe.” He said, “Let me think about it, ask around a bit. Is there a rush on this?”

“No, I just want to get my feet wet in that world. I feel lucky lately.” I replied.

The phone rang. He said, “Bet that’s Christy”, as he went to answer it.

“Hello” He looked at me and said, “No sorry, He’s a putz and you don’t want to talk to him anyway.”

I loudly said, “I know where you sleep.”

He laughed and said, “Hang on” and handed me the phone while asking “Who’s Kim?”.

I took the phone and flipped him off. He laughed again and headed into the living room.

I said, “Hi Kim, that was my brother David. He too thinks he’s funny.” She chuckled. I continued with, “Are you sure you want a brother? I really don’t recommend them.”

She said, “He sounds like fun.”

“Tell me that again when he’s talking about your period. To your priest. On the way out of the church.” She laughed again and asked, “He didn’t do that did he?” I said, “No, but he absolutely could.”

More laughter. I said, “It’s always nice to hear you laugh. I’m glad you called. I was just starting to make plans for the day, what are you up to?”

“Well, I wanted to start by thanking you again for yesterday. I had such a good time. I can’t believe you wanted to talk to my parents last night. I was a bit worried they would be mad at us.”

“I certainly couldn’t have blamed them if they were. I hope they didn’t give you a hard time, it was entirely my fault. I should have been more aware of the time, all I’ve got going for me is being able to say ‘But look at her your honor’ in my defense.”

“Oh, brother.” She said, “It’s getting deep.”

I chuckled, “Too much?”

She replied, “A bit, but you are very sweet.”

I asked, “Okay, I’ll try to tone it down a little for now, but I’m going to save that defense for later. So how did they react?”

“They were not exactly happy with the situation, but they were impressed by the way you handled it. I got a bit of a 3rd-degree interrogation from Mom this morning, but that was just gossip. I think they both like you.”

“Good, I like them too. They seem like good people and caring parents. The world needs more of both of those. So you don’t think they would object if I knocked on your door again soon?”

“When did you have in mind?” She asked, “I’ll see if I can soften them up a bit.”

“Do you have plans tomorrow night?”

“Nothing yet, what do you have in mind?”

I said, “Well, I know it’s risky, but I do know a place for roller skating...”

“Will there be actual roller skating this time?”

“Well, that’s the plan. I was assaulted in the parking lot last time.”

She exclaimed, “WHAT?!? I did no such thing!”

I laughed and said, “I think you need to look up the definition of that one again. There I was, minding my own business. When suddenly this woman grabbed me by the face and attacked me.”

“Oh my God.”

“I think I should ask a second opinion, is your Mother there?”

“You know what, I’ll call your bluff on that one. Hey Mom!”

A few seconds later I heard a muffled conversation before I heard Mrs. Murphy on the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hi Claire, how are you today?”

“Hello John, I’m fine. Kim tells me you wanted a second opinion about something?”

“Yes, but I’d like to ask a favor of you, please just nod your head for her benefit and say ‘I see’ for me.”

She said, “Yes, I see.”

“Now, take a minute to think about what it would cost me to get you to say ‘That sounds like assault to me’, I will explain in a minute.”

She said, “Let me think about it.” then she paused with a few Uh-Huh’s, and then she said, “that sounds an awful lot like an assault to me.”