Chapter 39

"It would be hard to forget someone's birthday when you love her."

Clara stared at me. Neither of us said anything for several minutes. I watched her carefully, trying to anticipate what her reaction would be to my admission. Finally, she stood up and turned around and ran inside her house. I didn't try to follow. I knew she needed some time to think about what I'd told her. I walked home. I didn't know what Clara was thinking, but I sure felt better. The next day was a Friday. On my way to school, I didn't cross over to the other side of the street when I walked past Clara's house. At the junior high, I stopped for a minute and looked all over, hoping to catch sight of Clara. If she was there, I couldn't see her.

In school that day, I found out that Bill and Denise had broken up. I didn't hear the details, but Denise seemed to be taking their break up pretty well. I seldom spent any time near Bill, except in the two afternoon classes we had together. He avoided me, and I did the same with him. He had gotten on to the JV baseball team as a reserve catcher, but I hadn't bothered to try out for it. When I saw him in gym class, he was clearing out his locker because the baseball team had started playing actual games now, and team members all went to last period gym. I was surprised when he called my name.

"Larry, how come you didn't try out for the team?" I looked over at him. He was about fifteen feet away away from me. His tone of voice, and the way he was sitting, didn't suggest that he was going to try to bait me into another fight. Still, I couldn't be sure. I decided to treat his question as if it were an overture on his part to reestablish a less hostile relationship with me.

"I don't have the time this year, plus, I haven't touched a ball since last summer."

"Want to throw some to me at the park after five? I'm not getting much practice on the team. I'm only third string this year."

"Maybe for an hour, but don't expect much. I'm not sure I can get my arm loosened up in an hour."

"At five, don't forget, okay?"

"Okay."

That had been unexpected. I figured it also had something to do with his breaking up with Denise. I missed playing games with the guys. I had been spending so much time with all of the other junk in my life, that I had gotten away from the fun of playing ball or even having a chance to hang out with guys. I was looking forward to throwing a baseball again. I wouldn't mind seeing about getting back to playing some baseball again, if I could shake off my rustiness.

I walked home right after school, wanting to see if I needed to do anything to my glove before five. As soon as I turned the corner to go by Clara's house, I saw her sitting on the steps again with her mother. They were talking to each other, but Clara had been watching me ever since I had come into view. When I got closer, Mrs. Townsend stopped talking to Clara.

"Hi, Larry."

"Hi, Clara. Hi, Mrs. Townsend." I stopped in front of them, but stayed on the sidewalk.

"Will you tell my mom what you said to me yesterday, Larry. She doesn't believe me."

"That I remembered your birthday?" Clara blushed.

"No, the other part. Why you remember it."

"Because I love you?"

"Yes, that's the part! See? I told you he said it." Clara had stood up and was smiling at me, and then turning back to her mom.

Her mother stood up and wiped her hands on her dress. She was looking at Clara, but she also looked over at me a few times too.

"Are you still trying to get her in bed with you, Larry? Is that what you want? You don't have to tell her that to get her to do it with you." She went up two of the stairs, until she stood on the little landing in front of her door. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to see Clara, Larry. Too much has happened that can't ever be undone. You both should just keep to your separate lives. Clara's having a hard enough time already, trying to live down her mistakes. Don't give her any false hopes, not where you're concerned."

"My sister is living in Hungary now. What she did wasn't good, and that's what my parents decided to do. I miss her, and I still love her. I miss Clara, and I still love her too. I won't try to do anything with Clara if you tell me not to, but I can't help it if I still love her, anymore than I can help loving Kate." I started walking away from Clara's house. I wasn't disappointed over, or even surprised by, Clara's mom's reaction to my wanting to see Clara. My parents had hoped and believed that uprooting Kate would solve all of her problems. From her last letter, that wasn't working as well as they had hoped it would. Kate had to want to change before she ever would. Clara did too. I wasn't going to stop my feelings for either of them. If they changed, I'd welcome it, but my loving them wasn't something that I could turn on and off like a faucet. As I walked away, I heard Clara saying something angry to her mother. I didn't slow down. Like my own parents were with Kate, I knew that Clara's mom was trying her best for Clara.

I got home and worked a little oil into the pocket of my glove. I tightened up the laces and pushed the padding back inside the pocket a little. I stood up and practices some throwing motions. I could tell it wasn't going to be easy to get my arm back in shape. I knew it was going to be pretty sore for the next few days. At four forty five, I left the house and walked over to the park. Bill didn't get there until five twenty, he said that practice ran longer than he expected. I had been playing some slow toss with a couple of the younger kids while I waited for him. We paced off the pitching distance, and we spent almost the whole hour just throwing the ball back and forth. I told him that I'd like to try to pitch him a few to see what my arm felt like. I stopped after throwing about five pitches. The last one had felt good until right after I released the ball. My arm was already sore, so I told Bill that I'd had enough.

"Did you hear that Denise dumped me?" Bill had walked over to me, and was taking off his chest protector. He was speaking softly enough that no one else could hear him. "She said I didn't get her excited enough. I don't know how I was supposed to get her excited, when she wouldn't let me do anymore than kiss her. She didn't like the way I kissed her either. I liked her a lot too. When you dated her, did she let you do anything past kissing her?"

"Like copping feels and stuff? I tried to put my hand on her boob at the movies, but she slapped it away."

"Me too. She sure is pretty though. I think it was her friend, Karen, that kept after her to dump me. She never liked me because of when I said she had a big fat ass when we were in the sixth grade. You remember how chubby she was? She sure has a body on her now though. You dated her too, didn't you?"

"A couple of times. She's the same way as Denise though. She just slaps harder."

"How about Eileen? Did you ever get anywhere with her?" This wasn't a question I was comfortable with. Both of our fights had already been about Eileen.

"I kissed her at my birthday dance, and talked to her about three other times. I don't know why you keep bringing her up to me. I haven't even seen her in about six months."

"I just wanted you to know I'm sorry, and I don't care about her anymore. I wish I hadn't gotten all crazy over her. She never even liked me back. I kept hearing all this big talk from her, but she never even let me see her titties. She said she was going to too."

"Maybe it was the cousin thing?"

"Naw, she just didn't like me that way. Everybody else, just not me. How's your arm feeling?"

"It's sore. I'm going to get my mom to put some linament on it, and then I'll get a hot towel to keep it warm. I should be good to throw some more by tomorrow, if you want to?"

"Might as well. If we get here early, we might get up a game."

"My dad makes me work for him around the house, three hours every Saturday, as a punishment."

"For what? Still that house you wrecked?"

"I never wrecked it, we just busted a few windows, that's all."

"I heard it was totally wrecked."

"Well, it wasn't. I have to make some money this summer, because I still owe him a ton."

"You should go around your neighborhood and cut people's grass. I do it. Three bucks for front and back, that's pretty good money."

"Do you trim and edge for that too?"

"Sure, but it only takes a few minutes if you have some trimming shears. I can usually do a whole yard in less than two hours. Sometimes you even get tips."

"I'll think about it. I don't like yard work, but I do need the money. I've got to go. I'll see you here tomorrow in the afternoon, maybe?"

"Call me about fifteen minutes before you get done with your dad. Bring your bike, and we can go for a ride after too."

I went home, and was just in time for supper. My father was surprised when I told him I'd been playing catch with Bill. I told him we were going to play again tomorrow after I finished my working for him.

"I am done with working on Saturdays, Larry. You go play tomorrow. Let me have a morning to relax."

After dinner, my mother showed me a letter from Kate. It wasn't that long, but, she had written some of it in Hungarian. My mother had to tell me what those words meant. Kate said she really missed the three of us and she wanted to know when she could come back home again. The tone of this letter was a lot different from her other two to me.

"So, Katinka is now to the point where she is going to try to impress us that she is being good and that she can come home again. Laurant, do not expect your papa to relent anytime soon. Katinka will still be in Budapest for a long, long time yet. We get weekly letters from Zoli's sister, Marie, telling us how spoiled, and willful our little Katinka still is. What she wrote before, about those two boys? Marie assures us that they are only in Katinka's imagination. Katinka goes to school, and then comes right back to the apartment. She also works to take care of the apartment, as part of paying for her expenses. If she doesn't work, they don't feed her. Your papa has set strict rules for her life over there. She is finding it to be not to her liking. Marie said that Katinka didn't like her cooking when she first got there, so now Marie gives her the raw ingredients, and tells her to cook them for herself."

I called Bill about my not needing to spend the morning working, and we decided to go for a bike ride early. After, we would go play some baseball. I could tell that my father was trying to encourage me to stay away from the girls. That was why he decided not to work me on Saturdays, so I could go play sports. Whatever the reason, I was happy to accept my newly free morning. My mom put some linament on my arm. It smelled bad, but I could feel the heat in my upper arm and shoulder. She also heated a damp towel for me in the oven which felt wonderful on my arm.

Bill and I went out riding at around eight o'clock. When I stopped off back home at eleven, to tell my parents I was going over to Bill's for lunch, my parents were in their bedroom, and the door was shut. I smiled to myself when I saw it. I knew that things were going to get better around my house now.

At Bill's house, I saw his sister, Jane, for the first time in months. We both said hi to each other, but that was about it. I still remembered that day on the sofa though. She had grown up a lot since I saw her last. I would have tried to talk to her some if it hadn't been for Bill standing right beside us. I didn't want to get him all riled up again, so I went with him to wash my hands for lunch. Mrs. Terry, Bill's mom, made us hot dogs with relish, mustard and onions. Bill also had cheese on his dogs, but I didn't want to spoil mine. Bill made a joke about Jane liking her wieners plain, but his mom jumped on him for being so vulgar at the dinner table. Jane made a face at him, but she didn't seem mad or embarrassed by him saying that to her. Now that she was thirteen, Jane was looking very interesting. Too bad that Bill was her brother.

When I got back home, at around five, mom and dad were still in the bedroom, and the door was still closed. Rather than disturb them, I went and fixed myself a snack to tide me over for dinner. I made myself a raw onion sandwich, with a lot of my mom's homemade mayonnaise on it. I was finishing it up, and thinking about making one more, when my mother came out of the bedroom. She looked like she had just gotten up. Her hair hadn't even been brushed.

"Did you call in sick today, Anyu? Your cheeks look like you might be running a fever."

"Don't try to be funny, Laurant. My new Saturday classes don't start for another week, as I'm sure you know."

"You and papa must not have gotten much sleep last night. Both of you needing such a long nap." My mother blushed. She looked like she was going to be mad at me, but, instead, she just smiled at me.

"It was a good nap. Your papa is still asleep. Why don't you go bring me my purse so I can give you money to go out to the movie tonight?" I went in the living room and got it off of the chair where she always left it. She handed me ten dollars from her wallet. "Get something to eat at Frank's too. I don't feel like cooking tonight. Don't stay out too late either, we all have church tomorrow." I took the money and told her thank you. Ten bucks. She must really have wanted me out of the house to give me so much. I went to the phone and called Bill.

"Hey, you want to go to the movies tonight?"

"Promise to keep your hands to yourself?"

"You are really disgusting. Yes or no?"

"Let me ask my mom." Bill was gone for about five minutes. "She says I can't go, sorry."

"How come?"

"She says I didn't clean my room all week. We had this deal. She won't even let me go if I clean it now, I already asked her."

"It's two Abbott & Costello movies, are you sure?"

"Oh, damn, which two?"

"The Mummy one and the Jeckyl and Hyde one. Those are both good."

"Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy? I never saw that one! I've been waiting to see it too. It's old, but I always miss it. Let me ask her again." He was gone about five more minutes this time. "Nope, she says no. Why don't you come over here instead?"

"My mom gave me money for the movies and to get something to eat. If I don't do that, she'll take it back. It's ten bucks too."

"You're so lucky. I have to make my own movie money, else I can't ever go. Come over before you go. You didn't see my room since before it got changed."

I went back to Bill's house again. I figured he really wanted me there so he could use me to try and get his mother to let him go too. We both used to do that a lot. It worked sometimes too. After I got there, Bill kept talking to me about those movies. I had already seen them both, but they were still funny, no matter how many times you saw them.

"Ma, it isn't fair. You should have reminded me before. I had practice every day, and homework to do. I'd have done it if I knew what was playing. Let me go, and I promise I'll clean my room up real good, tomorrow. I'll pull up the rug, and take it outside and beat it with my bat. I'll mop my floor too. Please?"

"Billy, be good now. You've already asked me fifty times. I'm not letting you go. You need to learn that a deal is a deal. I bet Larry's mother doesn't have to clear a path every time she needs to get to his dresser."

"But this time it's different. I've been waiting for a whole year for this picture to come back and play again."

"It's always that way with you. When it's something I want, you can't be bothered. When you want it, I should move heaven and earth to get it for you. I'm tired of that Billy. It's past time you learned to be responsible."

"Mrs. Terry, I don't mean to butt in here, but my parents send me to the movies so they can have some time to themselves. They don't do it because I want to go see a movie. If you let Bill go with me, I'll treat him to a burger and a Coke at Frank's, and you won't even need to cook anything."

"Well we'll still want to eat, and besides, Jane will still be here, won't she?" I looked over at Bill. I could tell he was counting on me to help convince his mom to let him go.

"If you let him go, we'll take Jane too, and besides, you can make him do his room tomorrow."

"I doubt that Jane would want to go to see those two movies. Besides, I'm trying to teach Billy to be more responsible."

"Let me ask her, ma. She likes Fatty and Skinny too, I bet. If she wants to go, can we?"

"Go ask her. If she really wants to go, you can. Don't try to force her, if she doesn't want to go. I wouldn't mind going out to eat myself tonight, if your father ever decides to quit fishing, and comes back home." Mr. Terry spent a lot of time fishing on the weekends. Bill ran off looking for Jane. I waited with Bill's mom. "Do your parents really send you to the movies so they can be alone?"