Chapter 9: Freshman Sharing the Bathroom

It was ten-thirty-seven and I was dashing out the door when Mr. Oldham called my name. Shit! I was going to be late getting to Karen's house.

"Yes, Sir," I said, when I saw Mr. Oldham and Judge Clausen coming toward me.

They just wanted to walk out to the garage with me. Well, Cool! That's where I was headed anyway. I was not going to be late after all.

That's what I thought until I got to the other side of the garage and saw Ned, his four friends and a stranger, all huddled around a brand new 1990 Volvo GL.

The stranger, who turned out to be a Volvo salesman, was there to deliver Ned's new car.

"Take all your personal items out of your old car, Sam. You're getting Ned's car as an early birthday gift," Mr. Oldham said to me.

I had to wait for Ned to finish shaking Mr. Oldham's hand before I could thank him properly and then it took another thirty minutes to clean out my car and square away the paperwork with the salesman.

I was delighted to have the car. It had been new when Ned came to pick me up in 1987 after my sophomore year at home. It was the same color as my old car and Ned's new one, dark gray exterior and dark gray interior, except for the dark brown leather seat covering.

Ned apologized, saying he would have cleaned his car had he known it was going to be mine but Mr. Oldham had surprised both of us. I told him the car was clean enough for me and I guess he could see that I was anxious to be on my way.

I was only thirty minutes late getting to Karen's house but she acted as though it was hours until I coaxed her outside to see the three-year-old car and she warmed up a little, although she kept her distance from me while Kevin was around us, which was all afternoon.

We had lunch and played dominoes and lots of other games, one after another. Karen was reluctant to make him go to his grandparents' house too early. We hadn't even kissed when we left for my house. It was five-thirty and we were going to be late, again.

Karen agonized about leaving Kevin with his grandparents. "I'm a terrible parent. I lied to my son so I can spend the night fucking you," she lamented.

"At least you're honest with yourself about it."

"I know what I am. You made me believe that crap about the domino and now I'm in so deep I can't stop."

"You sound like you regret what we're doing."

Karen looked at me, frowned and then smiled. She was dressed for dinner, wearing an off-white spring dress that disguised how small her breasts were and accented her shapely ass and legs. "I said I can't stop. I didn't say I wanted to."

Molly met us at the back door. "Let me take those, Mr. Sammy," she said, reaching for Karen's clothes bag and small overnight case.

"Its okay, Molly, I've got to go upstairs to change anyway. This is Karen. Karen, this is Molly."

"You'd best go in there and let Miss Suzanne know you're here if you know what's good for you," the old housekeeper said, using her sternest tone.

I handed the clothes bag and case to Molly and took Karen's hand. "Let's get this over with," I said and heard her sigh. The crowd was divided equally between the sunroom and tented area, everyone had a cocktail in his hand, everyone competed for the attention of others. A bartender was pouring drinks at a portable bar and three musicians, a keyboard, a bass and a violin were playing a soft melody at the far end of the tent. Suzanne met us at the entrance to the tent where the French doors had been opened.

"Aunt Suzanne, this is Karen, my mixed-doubles partner," I said, looking into her eyes to see if she was angry with me for being late. I couldn't tell.

Suzanne shook hands with Karen and gushed, saying how happy she was to meet her. "Go change, Honey. I'll introduce Karen to everyone."

Reluctantly, I turned to go upstairs but didn't get very far before Suzanne gave me a shot.

"Sammy? You did say mixed-doubles, didn't you?"

"That's right," I answered, trying to hide my irritation with her.

"I wanted to make sure I got it right. We wouldn't want anyone to mistake Karen for anything else, would we?"

I looked at Karen and saw a look of dismay come to her face. "It's tennis, Suz, not dominoes. Be careful, she has a wicked backhand."

It pleased me to see the faint smile come to Karen's lips.

No more than twelve and a half minutes had elapsed by the time I had changed into the light-weight suit and gotten back downstairs, that was more than enough time for Ned's friends, Penelope's brother-in-law, Mr. Oldham, Judge Clausen, Mr. Rowell and some other guys I didn't recognize to discover Karen. She was surrounded by males in the tented area and all the wives were clustered around Ned, Alice and another woman in the sunroom. The three musicians had switched to jazz.

I was torn between going to Alice, whose eyes were upon me and going to rescue Karen, who looked to be enjoying herself.

Just then, Mrs. Rowell collared me before I could join the hounds and fox under the tent.

"Wanda tells me you've been taking her to the theater," Mrs. Rowell began.

"Yes ma'am. We've seen some of the productions the drama group puts on. We've also seen a few movies."

"Oh, she hasn't said anything about seeing movies," Mrs. Rowell commented sadly, like she had been cheated out of hearing Wanda describe the movies we had attended. At least that was what I was thinking she had missed hearing. I didn't think Wanda would tell her mother that I had stuck my middle finger in her wet pussy just as Lauren Bacall said, 'You know how to whistle, don't you?' and the theater erupted in a chorus of whistles.

"I hope you'll be gentle with my daughter. Please don't force her to do anything she doesn't want to do," Mrs. Rowell said, interrupting my recollection of seeing To Have and Have Not with her bare-assed daughter.

What a strange thing for a mother to say to a college freshman. What did she take me for?

"I'm always gentle with Wanda. I wish you would tell her to be gentle with me," I said to Mrs. Rowell, making her laugh.

"Just remember what I said. My daughter is the essence of innocence. I want her to remain that way."

"Yes, ma'am," I said before making the excuse that I had to see if my date for the evening needed anything. She didn't; Karen was being very well taken care of.

"There you are, Sammy," she said, peeping over the sea of heads surrounding her. "Help me with one of these glasses of wine."

Two of Ned's friends reluctantly stepped aside to let me slide between them. Karen handed me one of three glasses of white wine that were sitting on the hors d'oeuvre table next to where she was standing. "Would you like to dance?" I offered, wanting to move her away from the pack of horny hounds. Even Mr. Oldham was among them, only observing but alertly watching Karen's every move. A smile of relief came to her face as she nodded and took my hand.

The concrete skirt surrounding the pool served as the dance floor. The trio of musicians seemed to pick up the beat when we started to dance. The bass player was using his bow, but the tone and size of the instrument reminded me of the music that had vibrated the speakers in Karen's bedroom that first night. I decided that I liked the sound of the bass. It was like Karen's body, strong and melodious.

"You seemed to enjoy being the center of attention," I said.

"Oh, Sammy, it was dreadful. I've never been so glad to see you. You're the only one I know. I'm warning you; if you want me to put out tonight you better get me out of here early."

"I want you to meet my friend Alice. She's a tennis player too, and she's the one I convinced to give up the guy and come home."

"She's one of the predictions you made based on the domino pips?"

"Yes, she's the three pips that I told you about."

The song ended but the trio followed with another tune, slower. Karen settled into my arms and I placed my hand in the small of her back feeling her thighs brush mine.

I could feel her cheek next to mine and could tell that she was smiling. "Did you hear me say that you should get us out of here early?"

"I heard you, and I definitely want you to put out tonight."

"I sooo want to put out. I sooo want this to be a special pip."

"My toy soldiers sooo want to watch."

"No one's going to watch. I'm not an exhibitionist," she said, pulling her head back to look at me.

"It's not like that. You'll see when we go up to my room."

"Just make it early," she said, pressing her body to mine again with a sigh.

Dinner was delayed until nearly eight and I had not been able to introduce Karen to Alice or even speak to her myself yet.

Ned and Penelope were seated at the head table, which was placed just inside the entrance to the tented area with Mr. Oldham and Suzanne on one side and the Judge and Mrs. Clausen seated on the other.

I knew Suzanne was responsible for the seating arrangements when I found myself sitting next to Penelope's sister and Karen was at another table between two of Ned's C.M.A. friends.

Try as I might, I couldn't get more than a few words out of Penelope's sister, but Tonya, who was across the table, became quite talkative and peppered me with questions about college. She had been accepted at two colleges and had to decide soon which one she would chose. She seemed surprised when I told her Pontiac was the only college I had applied to.

"What would you have done if you weren't accepted?"

"I guess I would have become a bum." As far as I was concerned, there was never a question about my being accepted to Pontiac. Mr. Oldham had picked the school I would attend and the matter was settled.

The bartender, who was doubling as wine steward kept very busy refilling glasses. A waiter, dressed in black slacks and a white jacket, helped Molly serve the meal while Betsy paid special attention to the head table.

The trio announced that they were taking a fifteen-minute break midway through the meal. With the absence of music, conversations from around the tent could be overheard, some muffled, others distinguishable.

"Is your mom going to keep working after the wedding?" I asked Tonya. She said she didn't know.

"Have you thought about having a new brother or sister?"

I don't know what made me ask that question. I hadn't considered the possibility of Ned becoming a parent before. I didn't even know if they would continue to live above the garage or move someplace else.

Tonya put her hand next to her mouth and whispered, "I think she's PG."

"TONYA!" her aunt admonished her.

What was Tonya saying? What does she mean by PG? I suddenly realized that she thought her mother was pregnant.

"Well, which would you prefer having, a baby brother or sister?" I asked, not caring how Penelope's sister felt about our discussing her sister being with child.

"I don't care as long as it's healthy," Tonya said, quoting the diplomatic answer without divulging how she really felt about her mother becoming knocked up and deciding, after sleeping with Ned for six years, to marry the father of the child.

The trio returned just as dessert was being served. I caught sight of Karen and the guy to her left getting up and heading for the dance floor. The trio started with a slow song.

"Would you like to dance?" I asked Tonya.

She twitched her face, trying to decide if she wanted to dance, glanced at her aunt and shook her head. "I better not," she said.

The waiter placed a slice of cheesecake topped with strawberries in front of me. "Would you care for coffee, Sir?"

"Yes, please," I answered.

I couldn't bear to turn in my seat to see how the asshole was holding Karen or how closely she was dancing to him. I got up and headed toward the table where Alice was sitting. She saw me coming and smiled.

"Sammy, I want you to meet Carter. Carter, this is Sammy, my dear friend."

The guy stood and we shook hands. He was maybe six-two, had short blond hair and looked to be a few years younger than Alice.

"And this is my sister, Jocie and her husband, Brad" Alice was saying.

I noticed that Alice was seated at the same table with Carter, her sister and her sister's husband while Karen and I had been separated. This was unfair; Suzanne would hear about it from me.

I shook hands with Jocie and Brad and then turned to Carter. "Would you mind if I ask Alice to dance?" I saw his forehead wrinkle.

"You don't mind, do you Honey?" Alice said, already getting to her feet. I took her hand and lead her toward the dance floor without looking back at Carter.

The Trio was back to playing jazz and there were several couples dancing.

I think she wanted me to see the ring. I noticed it as she placed her left hand on my shoulder.

"You're engaged!" I exclaimed.

"Hmmm."

"You found Blondie?"

She smiled, "Yes," she said dreamily.

"Is he rich?"

"Filthy."

"Is he hung?"

"You have a filthy mind," she laughed.

"Are you happy?"

"Delirious!"

"Because he's rich or because he's hung?"

"It's nice to see you too, Sammy," she said grinning, before tucking her cheek next to mine so I couldn't see her blush.

"I've got to see you."

She moved her head and looked at me. "I don't know, Sammy," she said, her eyes serious now.

I searched her face, forgetting about the music and that we were dancing. She studied me too.

"It's important," I said.

"He knows about us. I told him everything. I'll have to tell him. He'll want to know what it's about."

"It's about me. I need to talk to you, that's all, just to talk."

"What if he wants to be present?"

I'd had two glasses of wine, the one Karen had given me and another one with dinner but I wasn't drunk, was I? What was she saying? I didn't like it that she was getting hooked up with a guy that didn't trust her.

"Alice, I need to talk to you, only you. If he doesn't trust you enough to let us meet and talk and you let him treat you that way, I'll pass. I'll talk to someone else but I'll be disappointed in you."

"Oh, Sammy, this is so complicated. I need to talk with you too."

We started to move to the music again. It sounded like she was as mixed up as me.

"Its okay, Alice, I understand," I said and felt her body shiver.

I'll do it, I promise, even if he says no. I'll call you on Monday to set a time and place but I want to talk to Carter first. Do you understand?"

"Is that his first name? How did he get to be rich?"

"They're morticians. He's going to inherit the business."

"How did you meet?" Did someone in your family die?"

"They're clients of my dad's firm."

"I see," I said, thinking of other things I could have said, nasty little digs about robbing the dead, but I didn't. I felt her cheek next to mine and was sorry that the song was ending.

"He's hung like a... mule," she said, before breaking up.

I laughed and felt her body tremble hysterically. The music had stopped playing and the other dancers were leaving the dance floor or changing partners. We clung to each other, either for support or because we didn't want to let go.