Chapter 3

Bill Came over the next day, right after we got back from church. When he rang the front doorbell, Kate jumped up to go let him in. My father and I were in the living room watching a football game on television. Green Bay was winning easily. They looked like the team to beat for the Championship. With Starr, Hornung, Nitschke, Taylor, Gregg, Wood, Ringo, Jordan and Davis, they were loaded with talent. Put eight future Hall of Famers with the greatest football coach of all time, and you were going to do pretty well for yourself. Bill sat down with my dad and I, to watch the game, which made Kate mad enough that she went into the kitchen and complained to my mother about it.

At dinner, Kate and Bill sat on the same side of the table. My father noticed, but didn't comment on it. From the time he came over, all through dinner, until when he left, I said nothing to Bill, and he did the same with me. It was strained and uncomfortable for both of us. At the table, my father launched into his fast Hungarian, talking with my mom. When they spoke quickly like they were, there was no way that either Kate or I could understand them. They went back and forth for about three minutes, my father getting more excited with each exchange. Finally, he stood up, threw his napkin down on the table, and went downstairs to the basement. My mother stayed where she was, but she glared over at me.

"Laurant, since Katinka has company today, you will help me put everything away, and you can do the dishes too."

She was mad at my father, but decided to take it out on me. I hadn't done anything wrong. I didn't give her any more reason to be mad though, clearing the table and doing all of the dishes and the pans too. Bill and Kate sat together on the couch in the living room, watching something on the television. As soon as I got done with the dishes, I went into my bedroom. I figured if I stayed in the living room, I might say something to either Bill or Kate that would get me into more trouble with my mom.

I was laying on my bed, getting caught up with my reading for History, a couple of hours later, when Kate barged into my room without even bothering to knock on my door. She was crying.

"I hope you're satisfied now, Larry. Bill just dumped me. It's because of you, and the way you wouldn't even talk with him today. I knew you'd think of some way to ruin it for me. I wish you weren't my brother!" She left my room, but not before she slammed my door hard enough to bring my father up from the basement to find out what was going on. By the time he opened my door, Kate was already in her room bawling and wailing as loud as she could.

"Who slammed the door? Larry, did you do something to your sister?" My mother was right behind him. I could see her peering over my dad's shoulder.

"It wasn't me, Pop. I think Kate and Bill had a fight or something. You'll have to ask her, because that's all I know."

"Josef, go sit down in the living room, I will talk to her and tell you if there is a problem. You should relax. It is your only day to rest. Larry, go watch television with your Poppa." That wasn't a request, it was an order. I closed my History book and jumped up from my bed. My father had already turned, and was heading for the living room. Neither one of us had given any thought to not obeying my mother. My mother, satisfied that we were both obeying, went over and opened Kate's bedroom door and slipped inside. She promptly closed the door after her.

Kate and my Mom were in the bedroom for about half an hour before they came out and Kate apologized to my father for slamming my door, and to me for blaming me for her problems with Bill. She may have been sincere in her apology to my father, but her one to me was positively dripping with ill concealed venom. My mother stepped in again and told Kate that her apology to me wasn't good enough. Kate started crying again and actually shouted something at my mother, before running back to her room again. I hadn't been able to make out her words to my mother, but it sounded like she'd said 'dick head' somewhere in the middle of it.

Five minutes after my mother went in to talk with her again, Kate came back out and apologized to me again. The side of her face was red, like my mother had slapped her. My father was agitated by everything going on around him. Again, he started speaking to my mother in Hungarian. I understood enough of it to know that he wanted to know what was going on in his house, and he wanted to know it right then. His tone of voice said that he wasn't going to be shunted aside anymore. He and my mother retired to their bedroom to talk things over in private. In a couple of minutes, both of them were yelling at each other in Hungarian. Shortly after that, my father came out of the bedroom, and went back down into the basement. My mom stayed in the bedroom.

"You did this on purpose, Larry. Now, everyone is mad at everyone else. I don't want to talk to you anymore until you fix things with Bill."

"Fix things between him and I, or between you and him?"

"Tell him that it's all right for him to go out with me. Tell him that you and he will still be friends even if he does."

"Kate, I won't do that."

"You're being a bastard, Larry. You aren't the boss of me. I don't have to do what you want me to. Mama said it was okay for Bill to go out with me. Everything was just fine until you had to butt into our business like you did."

I got up off the couch and went back to my room. I wasn't going to say anything more to her about it. My mind was already made up. There was no way that I was going to do anything to help her and Bill get back together as long as she was so young. Hell, not just Bill, anyone. Let her be pissed. I didn't care. She was too young to be getting all soft in the head about boys. I knew girls who had gotten boy crazy at too young of an age. It never turned out good for the girl, or for her reputation.

The next morning, before school, but after Poppa left for work, my mother sat Kate and I down and told us what she and Poppa had decided. Kate wasn't to have anything to do with boys until she turned fourteen years old. Mom said that was final, and she would back Poppa up on it 100%. Kate started in, right away, protesting about how unfair and unreasonable it was for her. She told my mother that she wasn't going to obey something so unjust.

"Go to your room and pack your things then Katinka. I will not have a daughter in my house who won't obey me. Larry go to school. Your sister won't be going to school here anymore. I'm sending her to live with Neg Papa Fehervari." That was my mother's father back in Hungary. He had a farm way out in the country. I had never met him, but we had pictures of him and my late grandmother all over our house. Kate and I had never set foot in the old country. Our Hungarian was pitifully inadequate to having any conversations in it. It was an extremely difficult language to learn, and we'd both failed to learn much, in spite of both of our parents attempts.

My mother was a willful woman. I had no doubt that she was serious about sending Kate to Hungary. I also knew that getting a passport for Kate wasn't going to be something that easy to do. Certainly not something that could be done today or tomorrow. I figured that the delay would give both her and Kate a chance to calm down and get rational again.

When I got home from school that afternoon, Kate was on her way to New York City with Aunt Agnes. My mother had somehow found a way for Kate to get a passport in New York, and a visa from Hungary as well. My parents weren't speaking to each other. My mother was in her room crying, and my father and I had to make our own dinner. After seven that night, Aunt Agnes phoned my mother, collect from New York. She and Kate were staying with some Hungarian friends in Queens. Agnes put Kate on the phone after speaking with my mother for a few minutes. My mother listened without saying much for a minute or two, and then she told Kate that she would have to get her father's permission too. My mother handed the phone to my father, and he spoke quietly to Kate for a couple minutes. When they were done speaking, my father handed the receiver to my mother again. He spoke about six words to her in clipped Hungarian.

"Put Agnes on the phone again, Katinka." She and Aunt Agnes spoke in Hungarian for about two more minutes before hanging up the phone. "Larry, your sister is coming back home again. She has decided that she would rather wait until she is fourteen here with us rather than with her grandfather in Hungary. She will be home again tomorrow night. I do not want to hear you saying anything to her about what happened today. It is in the past, and forgotten. Do I make myself understood to you?"

"Yes, Anyu. I understand. Were you really going to send her to live in Hungary?" My mother looked over at my father before answering me.

"Agnes wanted to go visit our Poppa because he is getting old. She is going on to Hungary tomorrow, but without your sister now. Zoli is bringing Kate back tomorrow." Zoli was one of my father's best friends from when he was growing up in Hungary. It was at his house that my aunt and my sister were now staying. "If Kate had not decided to behave, she would be on the plane with Agnes, tomorrow, or maybe, the next day. Children obey their parents. We have always tried to fit in with our new country, Laurant, but on this, your father and I agree that the old way is best for all of us. When you get older, you can make your own decisions. While you live under our roof, eating our food, wearing the clothes that we purchased for you, you will obey us. Your father and I disagreed only on who should have accompanied Kate on her journey. He said it was his duty to have done so, not Agnes's."

I went to school on Tuesday and had to deal with Bill. Somehow, his sister, Jane, had heard that Kate had left school and was going to live in Hungary. I decided to accept his anger towards me as proof that he really cared for Kate. I explained everything that had happened over the last two days, and told Bill that my parents were very serious about their ultimatum towards Kate. No dating, or going out to places with boys, until she turns fourteen. I then told Bill that he could sign up for dance lessons with my mom if he wanted to stay in touch with Kate.

"I still don't get why you got so frosted over me liking her. I wasn't trying to do anything with her, nothing bad I mean."

"She's twelve years old, Bill. How would you like it if I was putting the make on Jane?"

"I wouldn't care. At least I'd know it wasn't some jerk that wouldn't care about her feelings, or try to take advantage of her. You know I like Kate. I wasn't going to hurt her. I really like her, a lot."