Chapter 11

It was hard to focus on normal stuff on Friday since I found myself getting sort of nervous about going to a basketball game. At lunch, I asked her questions about cheerleading. She said it could get pretty serious when you got to varsity and started preparing for cheerleading competitions. I didn’t even know there was such a thing so I listened while she told me all about them. I asked a lot of questions, hoping to make up for being the focus of previous conversations. I made sure to get Kim’s address and noted that it was only a mile and a half from our house. I was on my way back to class when I passed the principal, Mr. McClusky’s, office. He was standing in his doorway greeting students and when he greeted me, I suddenly had kind of a weird idea. I asked for five minutes of his time. It only took two and I left smiling. I noticed he was smiling, too.

That afternoon, Mom and I had a great workout followed by burgers without onions. That was probably the first time in my life I had a burger without onion. I gave Mom Kim’s address and home number and had to admit I didn’t know her mom’s first name. I dressed for the evening, a little fancier than normal for a basketball game but not so much as I’d make my date feel underdressed.

Mom and I watched from the top step as the limo pulled into our driveway and Mr. Doolittle walked around to open the door for me. “I’m nervous,” I said.

“Don’t be. Have fun. Your chariot awaits,” she said and kissed me on the cheek.

“Hi, Mr. Doolittle. Thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it.”

“I love to do it, Jack, especially when it’s something special and there’s no prom or graduation involved. You look sharp, young man.”

“Thanks,” I said climbing into the back seat. Being the only passenger, it felt cavernous in the back. I have to admit, I felt pretty special, even if it was just Eric’s dad. He was dressed for the part and seemed to be enjoying himself. On our way to Kim’s house, I let him know my plan for arrival and he smiled at that. He explained how girls should get in and out of the car and that it was especially important if they were wearing a dress. We pulled into the driveway and I got out before Mr. Doolittle could open the door for me.

The front door opened just as I arrived at the top step. Her dad took a look at me and then the limo and didn’t say a word. Her dad was a bit shorter than me with short, salt and pepper hair. He was thick but not fat and I thought he’d probably played some sort of sports. He looked me over, then turned and hollered for his wife to come and meet me and she did. I gave him my home address and phone number and promised to have her home by ten. He kept looking me over.

“Eleven, sweetheart,” Mrs. McTighe said. Mr. McTighe looked at her with one of those, what the hell are you thinking faces. “It’s Friday night and this fine young man thinks enough of Kimmie to show up in a nice car for the event deserves a little cushion, don’t you think?”

He looked at me. No. He looked through me and said, “Eleven.” She called for Kim and encouraged her not to keep me waiting. Mr. McTighe gave me a very solid handshake and told me to take care of his little girl. I promised I would and then Kim was there.

“What did you do?” she asked, looking at the limo.

“Have fun, sweetheart,” her mom said and I escorted her out to the car.

Mr. Doolittle held the door open and Kim started to get in but she was doing it wrong. I explained how. “Sit down first. Then swing your legs in. When you get out, legs first. That way you don’t look awkward to the people who are wondering who is in the limo.”

She smiled and took my advice. I went around and climbed in next to her. I put my arm around her for the short ride to the school. Kim was silent for the entire trip. I felt pretty good to have done something that would leave her speechless. Mr. Doolittle did a great job of navigating traffic at the school and pulled up to the front door just as if we owned the place. He remained seated behind the wheel and the back passenger side door was opened. Kim turned in her seat, put her legs out, just as if she’d been riding in limos her entire life.

“Miss McTighe, I hope you and your date enjoy the game,” Mr. McClusky said as he helped her out.

I stepped out and Mr. McClusky closed the door behind me.

“Is it proper form to tip the principal?” I whispered to Mr. McClusky.

“Nice entrance, Mr. Pierce. Don’t push it,” he said, and then, “She’s...” he stopped short of finishing the sentence.

“Yes,” I answered and that’s all either of us needed to say. Yes, she was stunning.

I stuck out my elbow and she took my arm and we walked in as though there was a red carpet to the gym. The limo got a lot of attention when it pulled up and when Kim and I got out, the attention shifted to us and she didn’t seem to mind. It made me smile, that’s for sure. As we walked to the door, the crowd sort of parted for us, which was a pretty cool and totally unexpected bonus.

Once inside, Kim turned to me. “Alright, Jack. That was pretty special. You going to try to keep that up or what?”

“That was so you would feel the way you should feel. Did it work?”

“It worked.”

Sweet. That’s all I needed to hear. We found good seats for the game and cheered for the Cyclones as they played crosstown rival Bishop England. I sort of watched the game and Kim watched the varsity cheerleaders. During every time-out, someone came over to say hi to Kim. This was Deja-vu from when I went to Sally’s game at St. John, except this time I knew most of the people.

At halftime, a bunch of Kim’s friends came to visit. I knew they wanted to talk to her so I excused myself to get drinks at the concession stand. I ran into Mr. McClusky and a couple of the teachers. I hadn’t thanked him properly. I stood just outside their circle until he waved me in.

I shook his hand. “Thanks for doing that Mr. McClusky. You were like the cherry on top,” I said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been the cherry on top before,” he answered and the teachers laughed. “If your goal was to make Miss McTighe, feel special, I think you accomplished it. First date?”

“Yes sir.”

“You’re a freshman and she’s a sophomore,” he said as a fact rather than a question. I nodded.

“We were actually just talking about you,” Coach Miller said. “We were playing time machine.”

“I don’t think I understand.”

He put his hand on my shoulder and led me a distance away. “No one will come out and say it and I don’t want to make them uncomfortable. All the guys are jealous of you and a lot of the ladies are jealous of Kim,” he said. “You’re alright, Pierce. But don’t skip practice to watch the cheerleaders next week.”

“No sir. You knew about that?”

“School’s not that big Pierce. Birch knew exactly where you were because that’s where he would have been. There’s a story there but it’s none of my business. As long as you and Birch are good.”

“We are sir. It’s not really that complicated. I helped the two of them get together because I already had a girlfriend. They didn’t hit it off, my girlfriend moved to Tennessee and so Kim and I are seeing if we hit it off.”

“Sounds complicated to me but as long as you two are good.” Coach Miller put his hand on my back and walked me to the line for drinks. “You’ve excelled at enough things to become a bit famous at our little school and you’re dating a very pretty young lady. A word of advice?”

“Yes sir.”

“Don’t let the success of it all go to your head and don’t blow it. I was going to tell you to treat her right but I think you already know that.”

“Yes sir. That’s my intention, sir.”

He turned and left. Standing in line, I was a little mystified. Kids got limos for prom and homecoming and graduation and no one said a word. I guess I answered my own question. This wasn’t the prom or graduation. It was just a Friday night basketball game in January. I realized that if I let it happen, there would be outside pressure on us and I didn’t want that. At the front of the line, I ordered two Cokes, paid and went back to our seats.

Her friends went back to their seats when I got there and we watched the rest of the game trying to not be the pseudo-celebrities our limo arrival had made us. Porter-Gaud went down in glorious defeat to a much better team. We didn’t care all that much and we made our way outside. Mom was going to pick us up be we hadn’t said where. I tried to guess where she would wait.

I spotted her car and took Kim’s hand. It seemed pretty natural and I liked that. Sally and I had done a lot but we hardly ever held hands. It was nice. Mom was parked under a light, leaning against the car, reading.

When we approached, Mom said, “You must be Kim,” and stuck out her hand.

“Yes ma’am.”

Mom looked at me with raised eyebrows, then turned to Kim. “What’s your curfew and is there any place you’d like to go? I may not have a limo but I can get you there.”

We had well over an hour before eleven and settled on ice cream. We had two choices. The first was near the school and would be filled with students and the other was a bit further away. Mom didn’t even ask. We went to the one further away. We went in and ordered. When Kim ordered something called Vanilla Burnt Almond, I knew she was a bit of a weirdo. Mom ordered the same thing and I knew I was in trouble.

They talked about the game and cheerleading and the classes Kim was taking and I may as well not have been there. I didn’t mind too much. This was Mom looking out for me. I did find out a couple of interesting things. Kim’s mom and dad were estate attorneys and their firm had handled Ronnie’s affairs. I found out that Mom had been a high school cheerleader. Who knew? Not me.

I knew that Mom had gone to Vanderbilt but I had no idea she had a double major in English and engineering. How did I not know that? I knew she was smart but I thought no one ever doubled with engineering. What did she do with it? Had she worked as an engineer? How could I not know some of this stuff? Kim found out over a bowl of ice cream. I had about fifty questions but decided I could wait to ask them.

Kim had a horse, stabled on John’s Island and she had competed in dressage when she was younger. She still rode but not as much as she wanted to. She had taken gymnastics classes until she was twelve and that’s part of why she became a cheerleader. Her favorite TV shows were M.A.S.H., Magnum and Dukes of Hazzard, but don’t tell anyone. She liked Waylon Jennings but she loved Emmylou Harris.

As I listened, I compared interests. I watched M.A.S.H every now and then and Magnum a lot but I had never seen an episode of the Dukes of Hazzard and I had no idea who Waylon Jennings or Emmylou Harris were. I didn’t even know what dressage was. People competed in something I’d never heard of? That was weird. I started laughing and they both looked at me. I’d interrupted their conversation.

“Sorry. I just have no idea about half of what you’re talking about. I’ve heard of Waylon Jennings but don’t know who Emmy Lou Harris is.”

“That’s because yer uncultured,” Kim said with the thickest accent she could manage. It was pretty thick.

“You’ve got yourself a country girl,” Mom added.

“Okay. What do you know how to do or like to do that would surprise me?”

“I hunt and fish.”

“Ooh. I fish. What kind of hunting?”

“Deer and turkey.”

I looked at Mom to read her reaction. Everybody I knew either hunted or knew someone who did. It was pretty common but I’d never done it. “Okay, what else?”

“I know how to dress a deer. Most people are surprised by that.”

“If I guessed what that meant, how wrong would I be?” I asked, laughing.

“After you shoot a deer, you have to get it ready for the table or the freezer. That’s what dressing a deer means.”

“Cleaning it?”

“That’s part of it, but yeah, that about right. I take it you don’t hunt.”

“No,” I said, cautiously. “Not yet. When does the season start?”

“He catches on quick,” Mom said and Kim laughed.

“I’m dating frontier woman,” I said and they both laughed.

We finished our ice cream and the two of them had a couple more good laughs at my expense but I didn’t mind too much. What had I gotten myself into, anyway? On the drive back to Kim’s house, the thought that dating one girl is not the same as dating another became obvious in a very major way. I felt like I would have to toss out everything I’d learned with Sally and start over. I was, as Ronnie would have said, discombobulated.

I walked her to the front door. I wanted to give her a goodnight kiss but Mom was parked twenty feet away.

“I had fun,” she said as we stood together on the porch, holding hands in front of us. “The limo and having Mr. McClusky greet us was a little over the top. You arranged for him to do that, didn’t you?” I nodded. “What made you think of that?”

“I guess I felt bad about what I said the other day. You know, about Sally. So, I guess I just wanted you to feel special.”

“It worked. We’ll be the talk of the school on Monday.”

“I don’t really want to be the talk of the school.”

“I know. You know what we talked about before, me caring so much about what other people think?”

“Yeah?” I hated that.

“I don’t think I do that as much anymore. It was like you said that first day in the cafeteria. You know, about me being seen with a freshman. Well, now, I don’t think that so much.” She was struggling with her words but I didn’t know how to help her. “Okay, I was thinking about what people would think when they saw me with a freshman. But now, I think I’m happy to be seen with you.”

“Being a freshman doesn’t define me anymore?”

“No.” The porchlight flickered on and off. “That’s my dad telling me to come in.”

“I want to kiss you goodnight, but...”

“But your mom is parked at the street and my dad is inside?” I nodded. “Now, who cares what people think?”

I kissed her. I took her face in my hands and we pressed lips together. I opened my mouth a little and traced her lower lip with my tongue. From her reaction, it was obvious she hadn’t been kissed like that before. She leaned back and looked at me with big, surprised eyes. She smiled and then we kissed again. I traced her lower, then upper lip and then sort of nipped at her lower lip and I could feel her whole body soften. She tried to kiss me back the same way. It was all new to her and she was enjoying it. When her tongue came out to lick my lip, I met it with my own tongue. Tip to tip and she squeezed her body to mine. The lights flickered again and we broke the kiss.

“Wow. A girl could get used to that.”

“Night, Kim. See you Monday.”

“That was nice. Really nice. Why is my dad flickering the light?”

“Probably because he’s concerned about how nice you thought that was.”

She raised her eyebrows and smiled a beautiful smile and stepped inside still smiling. Those dimples. I loved those dimples. I walked back to the car and climbed in. Mom pulled away from the curb.

“Well?”

“Well, she’s never been kissed before.”

“Hmm. And you undoubtedly feel a certain responsibility to teach her.”

“It would,” I said with my best redneck accent, “be a worthy cause.”

“I didn’t ask how it went with the limo. It certainly looked impressive.”

I told her about it and how she was duly impressed and that I’d asked Mr. McClusky to open the door for her and all and she was also impressed with that too.

“What did that little stunt set you back?”

“I have to cut Mr. Doolittle’s grass for a month.”

“It’s January. No one will be cutting their yard until May.”

“I know it, and he knows it. I think he just really likes doing it. Why else owns a stretch limo? Anyway, I’m going to go over to his house and edge or clean up or whatever. You know, show him that I appreciated it.”

“That’s a very nice idea,” she said as we pulled into the garage. “What are you and Franklin doing tomorrow?”

“I don’t know. No idea. I keep thinking he’ll run out of things but it doesn’t seem that way. He sure has learned a lot of stuff. I know he’s ten years older but, man, that’s a lot of stuff.”

“It is, but now, look at you. You know a lot of stuff no other fourteen-year-old knows. You have a huge leg up on your peers. And you have gained a ton of confidence. You’re kind of scary. I know the limo was your idea but would you have done that if you hadn’t learned how to operate a Bobcat or shingle a roof?”

I had to think about that for a minute. Those two things were unrelated but then, in a way, they were. “I think I get it. You mean because of all that other stuff, I’m not afraid to try things out of the ordinary.”

“That’s it, exactly. Make sure you tell that to Franklin tomorrow. He likes seeing you succeed, and this will be a different kind of payday for him. And Jack, Kim is truly beautiful, and she seems very mature and it’s obvious she likes you a lot.”

“You like her more than Sally, don’t you?”

“I didn’t really want to like her but what’s more important is how you feel. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“But you approve?”

“For now. I definitely think you’ve got your hands full.”

“I sure hope so,” I said getting out of the car and without really thinking about it.

When I stood up, she was already standing, leaning against the top of the car, staring at me. “I think you know what I meant, young man. Behave.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m really glad you like her.”

We went inside, I thanked Mom for her own limo service and I started to go to my room but stopped short and turned back to Mom.

“Thanks, Mom. She’s too much for me, isn’t she?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But she is. She’s so far out of my league it’s almost painful. You think this won’t last very long because she’ll find a senior or something, right?”

“Birch is a senior. She still went out with you. I think when you answered about not hunting yet, it went a long way.”

“Just that?”

“Just that, Buddy. She wants your approval and if you’re willing to do something new like learning to hunt, it’s probably a big deal. Have you told her about your Saturday routine with Franklin?”

“Yeah. I told her all about it.”

“How did she respond to that?”

“It seems like she thought it was really cool. She was interested and asked a lot of questions about what we’d done together.”

“I have a hunch that’s worth major points with her. I don’t think she wants a boyfriend who thinks fart noises are funny.”

“Wait. Who doesn’t think fart noises are funny?”

“Great. And you might keep this in mind, she might not be very experienced but she’s dated three or four guys, even if it wasn’t for long. Sally hadn’t. She’s not a little girl, Jack. I’m not saying Sally was a little girl, but Kim ... Kim’s a woman.”

“What does that mean to me? How do I act differently because of that?”

“I don’t know that you do. Franklin started dating when he was fifteen.”

“I’m almost fifteen.”

“You’re still my little boy. I don’t want you to get hurt. You and Sally didn’t get hurt as badly as if one or the other of you called it off. Mr. Hinkleman gets to play the role of the villain. How many times have you beaten the crap out of him on the heavy bag?”

“I might have done that a few times.” She looked at me and waited. “I might have pummeled him a lot.”

“How would you deal with it if Kim was the villain?”

I didn’t have an answer for that so I looked at my shoes. They didn’t have an answer, either.

“She’s very pretty. She doesn’t seem shallow, like some cheerleaders seem to be. I know I was when I was a cheerleader. She seems mature. She seems smart, too. Does she get good grades?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about that much. She reads a lot and is taking good classes. Probably. Does it matter?”

“Of course, it matters.” She stopped for a minute to think about it. “Remember when you were learning new stuff about Sally and you said it was like turning pages on a book?”

“Sure.”

“Kim McTighe is a book, too. Is she Atlas Shrugged or The Cat in the Hat?”

“What does that mean?”

“Atlas Shrugged has a level of sophistication that keeps you engaged. How many Dr. Seuss books are you going to read this year?”

“I read them a lot when I was four but not since. I get it.”

“Ronnie was very smart but when we talked about complex issues, I could hold my own. That will be important to you, too.”

“I get you. She seems smart enough to me.”

“You were miserable to be around for about a month. Six weeks, really, because Sally knew before you and wasn’t talking about it and that made you miserable, too. If it wasn’t for Miss McTighe, you’d still be miserable.”

“That’s the rebound thing, isn’t it? Starting a new relationship to avoid being miserable?”

“You’re smarter than you look.”

“Nice. Thanks, Mom. I get it. I wish I already knew all this stuff. Learning it is dangerous.”

“No truer words. No truer words.”

“Night,” I said and went to my room. I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. Kim was pretty nice, for a frontier woman. She was strong enough to perform some pretty challenging cheerleader stunts but she was soft in all the right places I thought I’d enjoy exploring her soft parts. I realized that it might be some time before I got to explore them the way I wanted to. She’d been on dates before but, apparently, not with anyone that knew how to kiss. I didn’t mind being her teacher. She was really soft. I wanted to get my hands on her butt. That cracked me up. She had really nice boobs but I wanted to get my hands on her butt. I could do both, I hoped. It’s good to have goals.

I thought about Sally. And then I didn’t know what to think about Sally. I had a good time with Kim and I felt guilty about it but Sally said I shouldn’t. Was she just saying that, though? Did I want her to meet a guy and have a good time? No. Not really. I wanted her to come home. But she was home. In Nashville. So, was Kim a consolation prize? She didn’t seem like it. Or was Sally practice for Kim. No. That definitely wasn’t it. If I let myself think that, then would Kim be practice for someone else? That seemed like a dangerous way to think. I wanted to call Sally and talk but it was late. Not as late in Nashville. Was it one hour or two? Still too late. I thought I should talk to Karen before I called Sally. Oh, and how would Sally feel if she knew I had a limo for Kim but not for her? I wished I’d gotten a limo to take Sally to the game at St. John’s.

Stop it, I thought. You’re taking a great evening and ruining it. I didn’t want think of Sally as the cause of feeling guilty or anything else. What I wanted was ... I didn’t know what I wanted.

Franklin came over at ten the next morning and he had Karen with him. We went to the dining room table and Mom joined us. He had an oversized briefcase, almost a suitcase, full of books and magazines and brochures. He pulled a bunch of them out and spread them on the table. I tried to figure out the theme but there was too much variety for me to get it.

“It’s career day, Jack. I want to tell you about mine and how I ended up there. Then Mom and Karen and I are going to do our best to share a bunch of opportunities with you. This is just information and we’re not experts so don’t think it’s decision time or anything like that. Mom told me what you two had talked about so I thought this would be a good idea.”

“We’re talking about work. Should I be excited?” I said with a fake groan.

“Let’s talk about options and possibilities. If you’re not interested, we could go to the batting cage.”

“No, I’m interested. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to go to the batting cage. Are these all yours?” I asked pointing to the books.

“Some. I picked some up at the library and did some research this week. Alright, first is the big broad area of manual labor. That ranges all the way from digging ditches to operating heavy equipment. Actually, I don’t think manual labor includes heavy equipment. It’s a spectrum, I guess. You’ve had an opportunity to do some roofing and operate a couple of pieces of heavy equipment. What’s your take?”

“They were both kind of fun to learn, but I don’t think I’d want to do either for a living. I think it would get boring. I’m definitely glad I know how.”

“What did Wash do for a living?”

“He’s a roofer. You know that.”

“And on his day off, he was roofing. Think he was bored?”

“I think he enjoyed seeing a job through from beginning to end. He liked what he was doing and he liked teaching me.”

“And Andrew?”

“He was definitely good at it. He didn’t seem bored. And he was doing that on his day off, too. For family.”

“Real manual labor like digging ditches and stuff doesn’t make much but a heavy equipment operator can make good money. I’m not certain, but I think the guys that operate the cranes at the shipyard make incredible money. They load and unload those huge container ships. No mistakes allowed.”

“Do plumbers and electricians fit into that category?”

“Skilled tradesmen. That’s probably the heavy equipment guys too. I think that’s the term. Skilled versus unskilled labor. The more skill and training required, the more challenging the job and the higher the pay. I think that’s a pretty safe way to draw the lines.”

“Okay. So, what do you do? You’re not skilled labor.”

“No. I’m an engineer. A structural engineer.”

“Did Mom have something to do with that?” I asked, remembering that Mom had a degree in engineering.

“Definitely. When I was a little guy, she told me she did it because she got to solve problems without having to be emotionally invested. I’ve only got so much emotional energy. If I used it up at work, I don’t think I’d have much left for Karen.

“And I’m very high maintenance,” she said. She got some eye rolls for that.

“As an engineer, I get to solve problems without using up that part of my brain. It’s fresh when I get home.”

“So, if I decide to become a therapist, I could use it all up at work and be worthless at home.”

“Not necessarily. Remember Wash. Roofing all week and still did it on his time off. It could be like that for you.”

“I think it’s different. What do you actually do, though?”

For the next thirty minutes, Franklin and Mom showed me architectural drawings and designs and talked about some of the challenges. I thought I understood pretty well until Franklin asked me what I thought would be involved in designing a toilet for a skyscraper. I gave my answer but he shot it down real fast.

“The way your toilet would work, is that a guy on the eighty-fifth floor would flush the toilet. Then his waste would go straight down, accelerating at a rate of ten meters per second squared. That’s about twenty-two miles per hour for the first second. Think about it.”

I did the mental calculations. “On an eighty-five-story building, his turd would hit bottom at about fifty miles per hour,” I said, laughing.

We all laughed. It was pretty funny.

“And if two people on the eighty-sixth story flushed at the same time, along with two more on the eighty-seventh...”

We really started laughing at that.

“I might have missed a minor detail or two.”

“Just one or two. Then, after sending his turd on a death plunge, he wants to wash his hands. How do you get water, under pressure, up to the eighty-fifth floor?”

“I would specialize in single story buildings.”

“Or start a side business cleaning up first floor bathrooms after the fifty mile per hour turds hit. This is why I enjoy engineering.”

“I can see the fascination with bathrooms has clouded your judgement. I’m also trying to imagine what that fifty mile per hour turd would sound like when it hit.”

“That might be a new level of disgusting,” Karen said. “Now, I’m trying to imagine it. Great.”

“That’s not all. What about lighting? Do you have the same windows and lighting for offices facing north as those facing south? Elevator placement, traffic patterns, including emergency exits all have to be accounted for. And then there’s landscape engineers. There’s dozens of kinds of engineers but most of us solve problems without a lot of emotional attachment.”

“Okay, I definitely like the sound of that. More than I thought. It makes sense that you would want to do that. What else.”

“Kim’s parents are both attorneys, right?” I nodded and he and Mom tried to explain some of the types of attorneys there were. Most attorneys didn’t spend much, if any time in a courtroom. They were pretty sure of that. Kim’s folks did estate planning and real-estate law. Big difference between that and criminal law or family law. Contract attorneys spend a huge amount of time in the fine print. I wondered how they decided on estate planning.

Karen talked about the medical career field. There were about a kabillion types of doctors and nurses, plus medical technicians, not to mention pharmacists.

“I’m a diagnostic sonographer so I work with ultrasound, sonogram, and echocardiogram machines. Basically, if we need a moving picture of your insides, I take it. I’ve just been working part time and thinking about going back to school. I kind of like the idea of becoming a nurse anesthetist but that’s a lot more school. We’ll figure it out at the end of this year.