Chapter 32

It wasn't late yet, but Uncle Bunny, Elizabeth, and Aunt Clara had already left. We hadn't lingered around the dining room for much longer, not after our dinner conversation had gotten more than a little bit out of hand. Shirley had gotten in her retaliatory strike at me, but it hadn't been a clear knock out. She had struck, I had countered, and then, anyone who cared to, had jumped into the fray. I think all of us had enjoyed parts of it, but some had enjoyed it more than others. Mama, Gerta, and Uncle Bunny seemed to have enjoyed it the most, while Dad and Aunt Clara seemed less enthusiastic about how the meal and the subsequent dinner conversation had gone.

"Kenny, do you want to take Shirley up to your old room and get her settled in? We'll need to get an early start if we're to be back in time for lunch." I was surprised that Mama would specify where she expected Shirley to sleep. I stood up and nodded that I was ready to do so though. Shirley stood up as well. My parents had come into the library with us, after everyone else had left, and, we had all clustered around the television set, pretending an interest in a taped episode of Hill Street Blues. Mama's question was prompted really by her running out of patience, waiting for Shirley and I to retire for the night. In the twenty minutes my parents had been standing around the television set, Mama had contrived, by my actual count, to "accidentally" hip bump my father a minimum of fourteen times.

Shirley and I climbed the stairs together, bumping into each other a few times ourselves. When I headed right at the top of the stairs, she gave me a puzzled frown, but she still followed right behind me.

"Do you think she really expects me to sleep in a different room than you, Kenny?"

"She wouldn't have told me to take you up to this room if she didn't expect that, Shirley. Mama's funny sometimes. I don't think she'd be surprised if I came into your room later, or if you came into mine, but I'm pretty sure she expects us to sleep in different rooms tonight."

"But, I thought we'd get to sleep together tonight. I had to practically beg my mother to let me spend the night here."

"If it was up to me, we'd be sleeping together, but, this is Mama's house, and she wants us sleeping apart tonight."

"Would it be rude if I went back down and asked her if we could sleep together tonight? She already knows we're fucking. I really want us to sleep together. I'll even promise her we won't do anything, if she'll let us sleep together tonight."

"Listen, unless I really miss my guess, they'll be heading up here soon themselves. When they do, Mama won't be wanting to participate in any lengthy discussions with you. From what she was saying at dinner, and the way she was throwing her hip at Dad, she has her own plans, and I don't think she'll be worried too much about ours. You can stay out here, in your doorway, with me, and then we'll ask her about it when they come up to bed." That's what we did, standing there with the door open to my old room, talking and kissing, while we waited for my parents to pass by. We had less than ten minutes to wait before both of us heard them talking as they climbed the stairs.

"Kenny, why are you and Shirley still up? It's getting late." It was pretty easy to tell that Mama hadn't expected to run into Shirley and me, waiting there, out in the hallway.

"Shirley wanted to find out if you meant we couldn't sleep together tonight. She really had her heart set on sleeping with me tonight."

"Kenny, this puts me in an awkward position. Your father and I are about to retire. We'll be awakening before six, and will be coming downstairs before six forty five, for breakfast. This is Shirley's room tonight. In the morning, I'll be expecting her to come down for breakfast from this room. I won't be getting up, performing any bed checks, but I do expect that Shirley will sleep in the room we've prepared for her." Mama said good night to us, kissing me on my cheek, before she and Dad went off to their own suite of rooms. After they were gone, I looked at Shirley, and then I shrugged my shoulders. I had really been expecting Mama to tell us that final sleeping arrangements would be left up to us. I waited to say anything to Shirley until after Mama and Dad had both gone inside their suite.

"I wasn't expecting her to tell us that. I'm going to ask her why she wanted us sleeping apart, the next time we're alone together."

"That isn't what I heard, Kenny. It sounded like she was saying I should sleep in this room, but she didn't say for you not to come sleep in here with me."

"No, she wouldn't have said it the way she did, about the awkward position, and her performing bed checks. I know her, Shirley, and she is expecting us both to stay in separate rooms tonight."

"This isn't what I was expecting. Are you really sure she'd get upset?"

"I don't understand why she would be, but I'm almost completely certain of what she meant when she just spoke to us. Maybe my Dad said something to her. Maybe they were afraid we'd be too loud, and they needed to get a good night's rest. I don't think my Dad liked it when everyone was talking about making people scream from having sex. You heard what he said to my Mother."

We kissed a little more, before I went into the room with her, helping her to get undressed, before I tucked her safely in. We were both disappointed, but for different reasons. Shirley had wanted to sleep with me. I think it had something to do with her being able to cross off some of the few remaining things that Brenda and I had done together that she and I hadn't managed to accomplish yet. I was disappointed too, because I had gotten used to having a certain freedom of choice in things like this. Mama had practically thrown Brenda into my bed. Now though, for reasons I didn't understand, she was preventing me from sleeping with Shirley.

I had long thought that she had been encouraging me to have sex with whatever girl I could manage it with. There hadn't ever been a time when she had tried to discourage my having sex, although, it had mostly been Brenda that she had attempted to pair me off with. I had said my goodnights to Shirley, and was just coming out of my old bedroom, when Dad came rushing out of his and Mama's bedroom door. He was dressed in his bedroom slippers, his hair was mussed up, and he was wrapping the belt around the robe he was wearing when he came out. He hurried right by me, without speaking a single word, or even acknowledging that he was aware that I was standing right there, in front of him. He had a dark scowl on his face, so I gave him a wide berth as well. When he was like this, I could safely assume that he was fighting with Mama again.

I went to my own bedroom and went inside. Just as a precaution, and hoping to prevent any new problems, I threw the dead bolt on my door. No one was going to sneak into my bedroom while I was sleeping. I had set my alarm clock for six, but, when it went off, I didn't get up right away. I didn't often do that, because, when I did, I had a tendency to fall back asleep. It was the phone ringing that got me awakened again. It came at six forty five, with Gerta wanting to know if I'd be joining Shirley and my mother for breakfast. I told her I'd overslept, and that I was going to grab a quick shower, and would be downstairs before seven o'clock. It was actually five after seven when I came down, but Mama and Shirley were deep into a whispered conversation when I arrived in the kitchen, and didn't seem in any particular hurry to get on the road.

"Good morning. Did Dad leave already?"

"Good morning, Kenny. Yes, he was up and gone before I awakened at five. I'm afraid he wasn't amused by the dinner conversation last night. I tried to tell him it was all said in jest, but you know how sensitive he is to even implied criticism. I swear that man sulks more than any person I've ever known. I guess you slept well, Kenny? Shirley and I were just discussing how literal you are in interpreting what people say to you."