Chapter 27

Although Debbie and Gina were my best friends, they weren’t my only neighborhood friends. There were other boys and girls around the same age as me who played together in the four streets that made up my childhood neighborhood. My house was technically not on one of those streets. I should have been an outsider, but there were only five houses on my block and none had children. Well, some had young tenants with babies like the Russos, but no children my age. But my mother had become friends with Debbie’s mother when I was little so Debbie and I became friends and, as we grew up, I was automatically included in Debbie’s neighborhood even though I lived around the corner.

To the side of my house was a long alley. The backs of Debbie’s and Gina’s houses faced that alley along with all the other houses on their street. From my backyard, I could see the rear of several of those houses and I had a gate in my chain link fence that took me into the alley. Unlike the five houses on my short block, the houses on Debbie and Gina’s street didn’t have garages so they parked their cars in the alley behind their houses and entered from the rear or they parked on the street in front of their houses. Those houses had basements, not tenants. So coming out the front of my house, I would turn left and walk past the alley, past the side yard of the corner house on Gina and Debbie’s street, and turn left to enter the neighborhood—the reverse of the path Debbie and Gina took to go to school. There were three streets that were perpendicular to Debbie and Gina’s long street. Those four streets made up my neighborhood, Debbie and Gina’s street around the corner from my house and the three streets forming an “E” with Debbie and Gina’s street.

When we were younger, the games played in my neighborhood weren’t gender specific. We’d play tag and hide and seek and other games. In the winter when it snowed, we would sleigh down the slope into the alley trying to see who could go the farthest. As we got older, the boys played sports while the girls did what young girls did—talked about movie stars, the hot male singers like Elvis, clothes, and boys.

This summer was different. We were all older and the crushes some of the girls had on some of the boys weren’t new, but now the boys took notice, especially when the girls’ bodies changed. At that age, nothing got a boy’s attention more than budding breasts. During the day, the boys went off to play softball or basketball in the junior high school’s cement schoolyard which was diagonally across the street from my house. But at night, we all got together on Debbie and Gina’s street. Unlike the busy avenue that fronted my house, their street had little traffic.

One night in early August, we were standing around bored when Frank Finkelstein said, “Let’s play Seven Minutes in Heaven.”

“What’s that?” Judy Lupa, a short mousy girl asked.

“It’s a game.”

“What kind of game?”

“A boy and girl go into a dark closet and do stuff for seven minutes.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Whatever they want. Kissing or more.”

“Yeah right! You made that up,” Judy said.

“No, it’s a real—”

“I’ll do it,” Gina shouted.

Everyone gawked at Gina with gaping mouths.

“We can’t,” Debbie said.

“Why not?” Gina asked with a pout.

“Because we don’t have a closet to go into.”

“We can use the coat closet in my house,” Frank said. “There’s plenty of room in there.”

I guess Debbie wasn’t thrilled about that type of game. She scowled at Frank and said, “What about your parents?”

“Not home. My dad is reorganizing the store and my mom is helping. They just got a shipment of new summer clothing.”

Frank’s father owned a ladies clothing store a short drive away. A lot of people liked shopping in the big department stores like Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, but some liked the smaller stores nearer their houses. His telling us that his parents weren’t home and that he had a closet to use made it real and everyone was silent. That is until Gina spoke up.

“Let’s go to Frank’s house and do it,” Gina said.

Everyone looked at each other, each scared and wanting someone to say it was a bad idea, but no one did. No one wanted to be the one to chicken out.

“How do we decide who, um...” Judy asked, stumbling over her words, “who ... what two go in the closet?”

“Me and Frank first,” Gina said.

Gina took Frank’s hand and yanked it until he started walking toward his house. Gina didn’t let go. The rest of us followed without saying a word. First lagging behind, but then catching up. Most of us were nervous, wishing we were somewhere else. Not me. I wasn’t attracted to any of the boys. They were just friends I had grown up with. But they were boys. When I had stopped seeing Joey, I had Mr. Russo. But now that he had left, the only sexual release I got was masturbation. Kissing a boy sounded good. And maybe more than kissing.

As I watched Frank and Gina walk hand-in-hand in front of me, it was the first time I envied Gina. Frank was tall and muscular. A good athlete. I wished I had spoken up first. I started to get that feeling between my legs. And then trepidation set in. What if no boy asked me into the closet?

When we entered Frank’s house, we stood in the entryway staring at our feet, the walls, the ceiling. Anywhere not to make eye contact with others. Surprisingly, it was Gina who once again took the lead. Why hadn’t I? I guess because no boy had asked me.

Gina giggled, a nervous laugh, and opened the closet door. She pulled Frank in with her. “Someone time us,” she said before closing the door.

“I got a watch,” Judy said as she checked the time. Her lips moved while adding seven to the current minute hand setting.

We all waited in the entryway. The boys huddled together and so did the girls. It was a warm August day, so the girls wore shorts and loose tops. The boys all wore long pants. Mostly chinos. Without the windows being open it was stuffy. I wondered how stuffy it was in the closet. I listened for noises coming from the closet, but heard none.

It seemed like hours passed, not minutes. We all waited in silence. Judy kept checking her watch. We held our breaths each time. And then Judy knocked on the door.

“Time’s up,” she shouted.

The closet door soon opened. Frank came out first, followed by Gina. Her cheeks were flushed. Was it that warm in the closet or was she aroused? Gina rushed over to Debbie and me, grabbed our hands, and dragged us away from the others.

“Wow,” Gina whispered.

“What happened?” Debbie whispered back.

“We kissed the whole time. And—” She looked down. “Oh, I can’t tell.” Her cheeks turned redder.