Chapter 3

I waited to see if I'd get any more invitations from Debbie to walk her home, but there weren't any. I did have a good conversation with June though. She told me that watching Debbie and I had been the best, and most intense and exciting, experience she'd ever had. She also told me that she'd be sure to be at that coming Saturday's matinee. Saturday finally came around and Debbie and June were sitting together, but June was seated on Debbie's right this time. Jimmy just decided that we'd sit down in our normal positions. I was all for it at first, believing that June was in for a big surprise. It turned out that I was the one in for a surprise, as both girls had planned it so that Debbie and I wound up together. The problem was that Jimmy knew how to handle June's voyeuristic tendencies far better than I did. While Debbie and I were putting on a show for her, Jimmy was whispering things in her ear, and soon she was writhing around as he played with first her titties, and then her pussy. I was getting pissed, not that I had any good reason to be necessarily, but I was pissed off anyway.

At the intermission, between the two main features, after the girl's got up to use the restrooms, I told Jimmy that I wanted to switch partners with him. He flat out refused, claiming that June preferred him to me, and that was why the two girls decided to switch in the first place. I told him that it might have more to do with the fact that Debbie had already sucked me off once, and had also fucked me, and that she probably wanted more of what had satisfied her the best. Jimmy and I wound up getting into a real fist fight, and I kicked the crap out of him right there between the rows where we had been sitting. He and I were ejected from the theater and told not to come back for a month. It was small consolation for me that I'd gotten much the better of him in the fight, since that meant I'd miss out on the next four matinee's at the Bijou. By the time I got home from the matinee, my father had somehow already learned that I'd been fighting with my cousin.

"Yutch, what the hell were you thinking? You don't think your Uncle Donald and I already have enough problems without you two dimwits locking horns? What the hell was so important to the two of you that you had to go at it right in a public movie house?" My father didn't object to my fighting, and certainly not to my winning. He was objecting that I'd made his already strained relationship with his brother in law even more strained. He also didn't approve of fighting in public establishments. To him, fighting was always an outdoor sport, unless you were being paid for it. In the past, he and Uncle Donald had been in at least three fights with each other, but in none of them were they allowed to fight to a conclusion, where a clear winner would have been declared. Both men were tough, but I'd have had to give the overall edge to my father. He operated without limits as to what he'd do in order to win. There had been a time when my mother had used the threat of Uncle Donald's coming to her defense against my father. That ended the day my father asked her if she was trying to get her brother killed. My mother knew it was a serious question, and she shut up about it after that. "I'm expecting an answer Yutch, what was the fight about?"

"Jimmy and I were fighting over a couple of girls, that's all. It wasn't a big deal anyway, he's such an asshole." That got me a sharp slap in the face that left me shaken up a little. I knew that if I said another word, he'd make me damn sorry that I did. I saw Ray looking back and forth between my father and I. Ray hated any kind of fighting or arguing. He especially hated it if my father was involved. I don't know what got into me, maybe I was showing off for my brother. "Goddamn it pop, that fucking hurt!" Boom! The next thing I knew I was sitting on my ass, my ears were ringing, and I was having serious difficulty remembering all of the many steps necessary for standing back up on my feet. What I don't remember is feeling very much pain at the time.

"You just stay down there now boy, unless you want a little more education about how you are supposed to talk to your father." Ray had already made a speedy retreat to our bedroom. I stayed where I was, gathering myself. I was also wondering what the hell I'd been thinking. "So the two of you were fighting over some girls? That's it?" I nodded my head in affirmation. "That's just stupid, plain and simple stupid. Get up, and go clean the snot off of your face. I'm sick of looking at you like that." When I got back to the kitchen, my father was on the phone with Aunt Betty. He was telling her that he and I had talked the situation over, and that I was sorry for hitting my cousin. He made me talk to Jimmy and apologize for losing my temper.

It was November before I was able to get back in the Bijou. That was because of my father, not the ushers at the Bijou. Jimmy went back after only missing two weeks and nobody said anything to him. I saw June and Debbie in school, but I didn't make any effort to try to talk with either of them. When I showed up again at the Bijou, I didn't partner up with Jimmy anymore. I would just see a girl sitting on the left side that I thought looked promising, and go sit down next to her. Usually that didn't work out so well, but sometimes it worked fine. The second or third time after I started coming back, June and Debbie sat down in different rows, both alone, but I ignored the two of them. I sat next to another girl, but that didn't work out very well, and Debbie sat down next to me after the other girl and her friend got up and left.

"Jackie, why are you mad at June and me?" I just looked at her. I didn't really know why I was mad, but I was. I guess it bothered me that they had decided, on their own, to make the switch. It had caught me off guard and I didn't react very well to being surprised.