Chapter 13: Girls' Night Out

Our club season was finished, our school team had won its first game, and I had a long weekend ahead of me. I planned on being as lazy as I could be, all weekend long.

From what Lori and Wendy had been paying me for teaching the boys, and all the games I officiated for the past year, plus the money I had earned working for Duane Olchick during his clinic, I was feeling pretty damned wealthy. I was even thinking I might have enough to buy a good, cheap car for myself.

I brought the subject up during breakfast on Saturday morning.

"I've been thinking, Dad," I said.

"Uh-oh," warned my older brother Michael. "That's a real danger sign, when Sean's been thinking."

I threatened to flick a spoonful of cereal at him, and he ducked out of the way playfully.

"Cut it out, boys," warned my mother reflexively.

"I'm almost afraid to ask. What have you been thinking, son?" asked my father.

"Well, I think we need to go car shopping."

"Why?" My mother turned from the sink to join the conversation. "Our cars are just fine, aren't they? Is one of them broken?"

"No," said my dad. "Unless Sean got in an accident last night, and isn't telling us."

Everybody turned to look at me accusingly. "No, no accident or anything. Jeez! What I meant was, we should go car shopping for a car for me."

"Oh, I understand now," said my dad. "In a word, no."

"No?" I complained. "And why not?"

"You can't afford it, first of all," he said. "And, second, we already have three cars in our driveway. You can use one of them anytime you want."

"I can, too, afford it," I said. "And besides, you take yours to work every day, Mom needs hers to get to work and shopping and stuff, and Michael takes his to school."

"And you're in school every day, too," said Dad patiently. "In the evenings, there's almost always at least two cars here. If you need to borrow one, all you have to do is ask for it, Sean."

"It's not fair," I grumbled. "Michael's got his own car."

"And I didn't get it until my senior year, either," he reminded me. "You're just a junior."

"And it's not just the purchase price of the car you have to be able to afford, dear," offered my mom, as she poured more orange juice into my glass. "There's gas, and repairs, and tires, and insurance. It's not just a simple purchase of a car, Sean."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I mumbled, discouraged. Dad reached over and tousled my hair.

"Don't rush things, sport. You'll grow up fast enough. And in the meantime, if you need the car, just let Mom or me know ahead of time, and we'll do our best to make sure one is available for you. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," I acquiesced.

I was disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to get my own wheels, but at least I got them thinking about being a little bit more liberal with the use of their cars. All was not lost.

After breakfast, I grabbed my mom's keys and headed out the door with Stephen. I was taking him to his football practice, and I figured I could swing over to Jake's house until I had to pick Stephen back up again. Jake was playing on the Varsity football team, and their game was later that afternoon, so I knew he would be home, doing essentially nothing until he could stoke up on carbohydrates at lunchtime, saving his energy for the game. We watched one of the college games on TV for about an hour, and then ate lunch together, until I had to go back and pick up my brother. I dropped Jake off at school so he could get ready for the game, and then went back and got Stephen. I dropped him at home, drove over to Becky's house, and picked her up for the football game, and got back to school and joined the mass of cars pulling into the parking lot for the game. Becks and I walked together into the stadium, and quickly found Eric and Keisha in the stands. They were sitting with Anthony Rogers and his girlfriend, Ayesha Ford, along with Trent and Danielle. We worked our way through the stands, sliding sideways down the row, through the crowd, to get to the seats they were saving for us.

It was a warm afternoon, and we were in the sun during the game.

"I should have brought some sun block," said Danielle. "I think I'm burning."

"Me, too," said Ayesha.

Trent laughed. "You, too? I didn't think that was possible."

Eric glanced over at Ayesha, and then turned to Trent. "Sure, it's possible," he said. "Ayesha's fairly light-skinned, but even Keisha and I have to be careful sometimes."

"No way," said Trent. "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," said Anthony. "Just because our skin is dark doesn't mean we are immune to the sun's rays, man. We just don't turn pink and red and all, like you guys do."

"But it's still a burn, and it still hurts," added Ayesha.

"Hey, I'm sorry, Ayesha. I really didn't know," said Trent.

She didn't look at all upset. She just nodded, and put on her big round sunglasses.

"S'okay," said Anthony. "It's just another misconception about blacks, kind of like how we've all got great rhythm, or we're all hung."

"I thought that one was true," murmured Eric, just loud enough for us to hear. Keisha snorted, shaking her head.

"Anyway," said Anthony, "I can't dance for shit, so I know that at least the first statement ain't true."

We all laughed, even though Ayesha looked a little embarrassed by the conversation.

We were surrounded by fellow students, so we all did the yells and the cheers that the cheerleaders were coaxing out of the crowd, stomping our feet and acting silly. At halftime, Becky and I got up and wandered over to the snack shack, where we picked up sodas and popcorn for everybody. We got back to our seats just after the second- half kickoff, and we enjoyed watching our team pound the snot out of the Rockton Heights team, our biggest conference rivals.

After the game, we were all filing out of the stadium. Becky was in front of me, and Eric was directly behind me.

"Hey, Sean, you guys want to get together tonight? Maybe go get a pizza or something?" he asked.

"Sure," I answered. I tapped Becky on the shoulder to get her attention. "Becks, you want to meet Eric and Keisha for pizza tonight?"

"Okay," she said. "Where and what time?"

I turned back to Eric. "She says okay, too. Where, and what time?"

"I dunno, I'll have to call you. Trent has a place in mind, I think. I'll let you know."

I turned back up and said to Becky, "Don't know yet where or when. I'll call you after Eric calls me."

When we finally got to the exit, we still had to walk down the school driveway to the parking lot. Just outside the stadium, standing next to the chain-link fence, I saw Joey Amonte and Molly O'Toole, lounging around with Vinnie Arilio, Harold Barnes, Pammy Lipschutz, and another kid who looked like a younger incarnation of Richie Del Toro. The contrast between the grunginess of the Bulls, and Molly's All-American look in her cheerleading outfit, was jarring.

I thrust my chin over in their direction. "Is that Poo-Poo's younger brother over there?" I asked.

"Yeah," replied Anthony. "That's Angelo. They call him Jilly, and he's mean as a snake, from what I've heard. Meaner even than Richie."

"Shit," said Eric, "with a name like Jilly, anybody'd be mean and nasty."

"You can say that," warned Anthony, "but don't get in his way, bro."

"The Bulls leave me alone," muttered Eric, "and I leave them alone. Long as they don't mess with me, I won't get in their faces."

The crowd had thinned out by the time we got to the parking lot. We waved to our friends and hopped into the car. Becky leaned over and gave me a quick kiss before settling back and fastening her seat belt. I started the car, and we made our way slowly out of the parking lot. I dropped Becky off at her house, promising to call her as soon as I heard from Eric, and I headed for home.

I walked in the door and headed upstairs to take a shower. By the time I got done getting cleaned up, it was just after six o'clock. I came down the stairs, went into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator to get a glass of milk.

"Sean?" I heard my mom's voice coming from the family room. "There's a note on the table. Mrs. Wilkinson called. She wants you to call her back." I picked up the note, but it only contained her phone number. Nothing to indicate what it was about. I picked up the phone and dialed Lori's number.

"Hello?"

"Lori? Hi, it's Sean."

"Oh, Sean, I'm sorry to bother you on a Saturday night," she said. She sounded sad, and maybe a little weepy. "But Mrs. Marcus - Wendy - insisted that I try calling you, to see if you can help me out."

"Sure," I said. "What's up?"

"Oh, I hate to even ask you this..." I could just make out another indistinct voice in the background. "It seems that, uh, my sister Joanie, and Wendy, they wanted me to go out to dinner with them tonight. Molly was supposed to baby-sit for me, but she hasn't shown up, and her mother doesn't know where she might be, and... well, I know it's an imposition, Sean, but I don't know who else I can call on such short notice... and I know you're probably busy anyway..."

Her voice cut off, and it sounded like somebody grabbed the phone from Lori's hand.

"Hello, Sean?" It was Wendy who was on the phone, now. "Could you possibly come over and sit with Lori's boys tonight?" There was no hesitation in Wendy's manner about asking me to do this. In fact, she sounded like she fully expected me to comply with her request, no questions asked.

I was just about to tell her no, when she cupped her hand over the mouthpiece and quietly said, "Please, Sean, could you do this? Joanie and I want to take Lori out to take her mind off this weekend. Kind of a girls' night out. It's the anniversary of her husband's accident."

Now I remembered. Lori's husband had been in a motorcycle accident two years before, and he was kept alive, on life support, for five days before Lori finally agreed to pull the plug. He died of massive internal injuries. It was just last year at this time that she had extracted a promise from me. She made me promise that I would never get on a motorcycle. I couldn't leave her in the lurch, just because I was in a defiant mood with Wendy.

I sighed. "Okay," I said. "Put Lori back on the line, would you?"

I could hear Wendy saying everything would be okay as she handed the phone back to Lori.

"Sean? Are you there?"

"Yes," I replied. "Let me see if I can borrow my mom's car, and I'll be right over."

"You really don't have to do this, Sean," she said.

"It's fine, Lori, really. I didn't have any plans for tonight, anyway."

After saying goodbye, I quickly called Eric, and told him I wasn't going to be able to make it. I explained the situation to him. He said, "Thass okay, man, you gotta take care of friends, I understand."

"Thanks, Eric. I'll see you on Tuesday."

"Okay. You call Becky yet?"

"No, I've got to do that now."

"Oh, man, good luck," he said as he hung up.

I called Becky, and gave her the bad news. She was not happy with me.

"You're going to what?" she asked.

"I've got to baby-sit," I repeated. "It's a long story, and they're good friends, and they're in a bind," I explained. She didn't know Lori, even though she was aware that I was teaching soccer to the Wilkinson kids.

"Okay, Sean," she said, but she still sounded pretty pissed. "If you feel you must do this, I understand. But you'll make this up to me, won't you?"

"Of course I will," I said hurriedly. Let's see, I thought to myself, breaking a Saturday night date, an hour before I'm supposed to pick her up. This is going to cost me, big time.

"All right, then," she said, somewhat mollified. "Have fun."

Have fun? I thought to myself as I hung up the phone. Women. Can't figure them out at all.

Mom said it was okay to take the car, so I hopped in and drove over to Lori's house. Wendy's car was in the street, and another car, presumably Joanie's, was in the driveway. I pulled in next to Joanie's car, ran up the front steps to the door, and rang the bell.

Lori opened the door, stepping aside to let me come in. My instinct about her was right. Her eyes were red, and even her artfully applied makeup couldn't completely conceal the dark rings under her eyes. She was dressed in a simple red silk blouse and a pleated skirt that came to just above her knees. A wave of affection hit me hard, not only for Lori, but for Wendy, too, for trying to ease her friend's pain by distracting her for an evening.

Wendy was in the kitchen, sipping on a glass of white wine. With her was another lady, who was obviously Lori's older sister, also with a wine glass in her hand. Wendy was dressed to kill, in a pastel pant suit and a flowery silk blouse that had the top three buttons undone, allowing her ample cleavage to be revealed. Her eyes were hard when I walked in, but softened immediately, in recognition of my efforts on Lori's behalf.

Lori, following me into the kitchen, made the introductions. "Sean, this is my sister, Joanie."

I strode over and held out my hand. Joanie shook it firmly, her grip lingering for just a moment as she looked me up and down.

"I've heard great things about you, Sean," she said. She had a low, gravelly voice that was oddly compelling. She looked a few years older than Lori. She had the same slim build as Lori, though she was a little heavier in the hips than her sister, and she cut her dark hair shorter, but there was a clear family resemblance. Her clothes looked expensive, but they smelled of cigarette smoke, which might have explained the huskiness in her voice.

"Thank you, but these two might tend to exaggerate my virtues," I said. "When it comes to helping their kids, I've noticed that moms can get pretty fierce in their loyalties."

"It comes built-in," said Joanie with a smile. "It's all part of our maternal instinct."

Wendy took Joanie's glass and carried it over, along with hers, to the sink and rinsed them out.

"We'd better be going, or we'll be late for our reservations," she said briskly.

"Right," said Lori distractedly. "Oh, Sean, the boys are upstairs, taking their baths. They didn't know you were coming, so I'd better go tell them."

"There's no need," I said. "They knew a babysitter was coming over, right?" Lori nodded. "Okay, then, we'll let it be a surprise for them, that I'm their babysitter for the evening."

"But I don't know..."

"Oh, poo, it's fine," interrupted Wendy. She bustled around and grabbed Lori's arm. As she was firmly guiding her toward the back door, she continued, "Sean knows your boys almost as well as you do, for goodness sake. They'll be fine."

Joanie followed them out the door, closing it behind her. I could hear Wendy chattering on, all the way down the driveway to her car, engaging Lori in a barrage of conversation to help take her mind off everything. I watched out the open window as Joanie caught up with them and joined in. I could hear the buzz of their voices, but not their actual conversation, as they opened the car doors and climbed in, Wendy and Lori in the front seats and Joanie in the back. The car doors slammed, abruptly shutting off the buzz of their voices, and they headed down the road.

I sat down in the family room, waiting for the boys to come down. I thought about calling Becky, thinking maybe she could come over after the boys went to bed, but before I could pick up the telephone, I heard two sets of little feet pounding down the stairs.

Davey and Kip came racing into the family room, and skidded to a stop when they saw me.

"Sean!" "Sean!"

"Hi, guys," I said with a smile.

"Are you our babysitter tonight?" asked Davey.

"Well, I'm your sitter tonight, but you guys aren't babies, are you?"

"No!" laughed Kip. "We're big boys!"

"Okay, then," I said. "I guess I'm a big boy sitter, then."

"And not a baby sitter," Kip exclaimed.

"That's right," I agreed with a laugh.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy," said Davey as he ran around the couch.

"Whoa, there, pardner," I admonished. "Slow down, Davey, you're making me dizzy." I reached out and tried to grab him to stop him from running, but he swerved and avoided me. Kip thought it looked like so much fun, he started running after Davey, around and around.

I sighed. It looked like it was going to be a long, active evening. I got up and walked into the kitchen to fill glasses with ice and sodas. The boys got tired of chasing each other, and ran into the kitchen to see what I was doing.

"Okay, guys, here's the plan," I said. "You two stop running, and you can have something to drink. Then, we can find something to watch on television, or we can play a game. Your choice."

"Game!" cried Kip.

"Play a game!" yelled Davey.

"All right, a game. Which game? Let's go look at what you have," I suggested. We set our drinks down on the kitchen table, and they each grabbed a hand and pulled me to the front closet, where their games were stored.

"How about Life?" I suggested.

"Sissy game," complained Davey. "How about Snakes and Ladders?"

"Yeah," agreed Kip. "Snakes and Ladders!"

I pulled the box out of the pile, and carried it into the family room.

"Okay, guys, you get the game set up, and I'll bring our drinks in from the kitchen." By the time I got back with the three glasses of pop, Davey and Kip had the game set up. We sat on the floor, with the game on the coffee table, and spent the next couple of hours rolling the dice, letting our game pieces climb up ladders and slide down snakes, each trying to beat the other two to the finish line.

Finally, though, it got to be half past nine, way past their normal bedtime. It was dark out, with scattered pools of light thrown by the streetlamps and porch lights up and down the street.

"Okay, you guys, time for bed," I said.

"Aw, please can't we stay up?" "Just one more game? Please?"