Chapter 21
It was a Monday night and Ron was stretched out on the floor watching TV and reading Damien the Leper for his English class. Then he saw President Kennedy’s face come on the screen. He began talking about missiles in Cuba and saying that the United States was placing a naval blockade around the island. Then he said that any attack on the United States by Cuba would be considered an attack by the Soviet Union and that we would respond by attacking the Soviet Union. Ron stared. Was the world going to end? Would he never get to grow up?
George was out working his second job as a bartender. Marjorie wasn’t home. Ron lay there listening to the President who didn’t smile once. Ron loved watching his press conferences because of the way that he joked with everyone, but he wasn’t in any mood to be joking tonight. He wondered if we could beat the Russians. He felt his anger begin to rise. He was too young to fight. He wondered if they would make an exception because of his size. He had broken Richie D’Orio’s nose. Would that make a difference?
After the president was done speaking, a commentator showed a map of Cuba and showed the places that the missiles could reach. New Jersey wasn’t on the map. Did that make a difference? Maybe New Jersey wasn’t important enough to be on a map of the United States when they showed it on TV. New York was there. So was Washington. Miami was there. Ron pushed thoughts of Miami out of his head. He had gone there with Marjorie and Rocky a long time ago and Rocky had taken him fishing. Ron felt something burning in his throat and then he vomited.
The next morning the world looked very different. There were lines outside of the church when he went to school. They said special prayers in the classroom and then Mary Salvatore said that they would be going over to the church to attend a special mass and pray for peace and for God to give President Kennedy the wisdom to do what was best. Ron stared up at the picture of Kennedy that was on the wall and wondered if the picture would be there if he was not a Catholic.
The church was warm and crowded. As the students were marched down the aisle, Ron thought that he heard someone gasp at the sight of them and then begin to cry. Then he saw that many of the women were holding tissues to their eyes. The nuns looked serene. Ron wondered if they were anticipating heaven.
The priest, Monsignor Gerard, was in the pulpit. Before the mass began, he said, “I’m sure that Our Heavenly Father is pleased to see so many of you in His house today. I’m sure that he wished that his house was this full when people were not frightened, but in His wisdom, he knows that we are weak.” Then he turned his back on them and began to celebrate mass. Ron thought, that sure will make folks feel better.
The days wore on and the tension built. After the first rushes of panic, a sameness set in about it, almost a grim acceptance. There was a spike in the construction of fallout shelters. In school they practiced what to do in the case of an attack. The nuns assured frightened children that the best place in the world to be was in the church. And then when things seemed to be inevitable, it was over.
The United States had prevailed. Kennedy had backed down the Russians. Ron got a copy of Profiles in Courage from the library and read it. Then he read Why England Slept, although he didn’t understand much of it. Then he read The Making of the President.
When report cards came out, Ron was moved from the last seat in the last row to the last seat in the middle row. He was seated across from Barbara Infante. She smiled at him. Sometimes when they exchanged papers, they graded each other’s papers. Her penmanship was beautiful and she wrote with a light touch. Ron’s handwriting was sloppy and he wrote hard.
Marjorie was thrilled with his grades. Of the 16 graded areas, Ron had earned an “E” in nine of them. “E” stood for excellent. Mary Salvatore gave him a “G” in religion. The nun knew that Ron had earned an “E” but she just could not bring herself to give it to him. He was a smart boy and she liked him, but she certainly wasn’t going to make the mistake of trusting him. Everything else was either a “G” for good or an “S” for satisfactory. Richie was in the first seat of Ron’s row. He had gotten straight E’s.
Things were different after Ron broke his nose. Richie was angry and embarrassed, and he was sure that Ron had done it on purpose. They never talked about it and Ron would have told him that it was just a play and that he didn’t mean anything by it.
After the Cuban thing and his impressive report card, Ron’s popularity began to rise again. He learned that while he hid his love of reading in public school because he didn’t want to appear to be brainy, in Catholic school, brainy was good.
Chapter 22
Janine and Jimmy arrived for coffee and the after dinner stupor seemed broken. Ron was still in the basement and Celeste was just finishing setting the table for coffee. Jimmy kissed Celeste on the cheek and said, “So where is he? You keep him chained to your bed downstairs?”
Celeste blushed. Janine came over and said, “Better to keep him chained than to have him chaining you.”
Mario and Joey came into the dining room and sat back down. Mario shook Jimmy’s hand and said, “Mr. Lattimore.”
Jimmy grinned, “So I hear that you are going to have a new son-in-law.”
Joey added, “Again.”
Anna tensed and put her head down. Mario just nodded. Janine said, “Well, three is a charm.”
Celeste knew that Anna had passed this information along during her morning phone calls and she was sure that it wasn’t accompanied by an endorsement.
The door to the downstairs basement opened and Ron tried to slide into the room unnoticed. That wasn’t going to happen.
“We need another chair,” said Anna.
Ron moved to get it and Anna thought in spite of herself that at least he tried to help. Celeste introduced Ron to Jimmy and Janine.
Jimmy smiled and stick out a large hard hand. It engulfed Ron’s hand but he tried his best for a manly shake.
“Good to meet you,” said Ron figuring a smile at Janine would cover his response to go along with the handshake.
“So,” said Jimmy, “you’re a football coach.”
“I’m just an assistant, said Ron. “This will be my second year.”
“Good money?” said Jimmy laughing.
Ron flushed. The money was awful. He calculated it last year to work out to be about fifty cents an hour. Ron laughed. “Not so much for the money. But it’s good to work with the kids that way.”
Jimmy didn’t answer. It had been a joke and Ron had given his a straight answer. Jimmy hoped that Ron had a sense of humor. He was going to need it in this house.
Neither Mario nor Joey understood why someone would work when the money wasn’t any good and the hours were long. But he was a teacher and they both had a mistrust of teachers. It was true that Jimmy was a teacher, but he taught drivers education and gym. That was different and Jimmy was family. He liked to work with his hands.
The last thing in the world that Ron wanted was a hot cup of coffee. He didn’t drink coffee after dinner. They had consumed too much food. He wished that he could go for a long walk and maybe even a run, but that was out of the question. Angel took his hand and Ron lifted her up onto his knee after he sat.
Chapter 23
Ron was invited to his first party. It was at Barbara Infante’s house. He took a very long and hot shower. He combed his hair about six times. He used some of George’s aftershave. He made sure that there was copious amounts of deodorant under his arms. He selected a white on white high roll and used gold colored cuff links with it. He slid on a pair of black mohair and silk slacks that had a knife sharp crease. His socks were thin and almost see through except for the black ribs that Ron made sure were very straight as they slid up over his ankles. He tied his feather-tipped shoes tightly and made sure that their shine was high gloss. Then he slipped on his three quarter length black leather jacket from Cooper leather, where his mother had taken him when he said that he needed to have one.
He wanted to slip on his sunglasses but it was night and George said that he was trying to look like a wise guy when he wore them. Marjorie said, “You look very nice,” when he came out of his room. Ron had the sunglasses safely tucked away in his inside pocket. “Do you have money?” she asked.
“I have a few dollars,” said Ron. “I don’t think that I’ll need any.”
“Where is this party?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he lied.
“How can you be going to a party and not know where it is?” said Marjorie.
Ron lied again. “I’m meeting Richie and some of the other guys up at the school. They know where she lives.”
It had been a pointless lie and Ron knew that it probably was, but the thought of her driving over there if he was late, or calling her house if she felt like it, was reason enough to keep her in the dark.
“Stay out of trouble,” said George.
“He isn’t going to get into any trouble!” snapped Marjorie. “He’s going to a party.” Then a thought hit her. “What is this girl’s name?”
“Barbara.”
“Does she have a last name?”
“Infante.”
“I know a Tony Infante from 4th Street,” said George.
Ron thought, who cares?
“Are her parents going to be at home?” said Marjorie.
“I don’t know,” said Ron. “I’m sure that they will be.” And then he was moving towards the door. He needed to get out of there. He slid on his shades as he bounced down the stairs. The evening air felt like freedom.
Chapter 24
Later that night Ron and Celeste lay in bed talking. They had mastered the art of having quiet sex and Angel was two floors away in her bedroom. Celeste had an intercom set up so that she could respond if Angel woke up.
They were facing each other and searching each other’s faces as they spoke.
“Life is going to change a lot in a couple of weeks,” said Ron.
Celeste felt a quiver in her stomach. “Because of work?”
“Yes, and coaching and then tutoring. I get very busy and we have to plan for it.”
“Will I ever see you?”
“Every day,” Ron blurted. “As long as we can find a way.”
“At least we’ll be able to talk on the phone, won’t we?’
“Every night,” said Ron. “I know this is going to sound screwy, but I don’t think that I could manage to get to sleep if I hadn’t spoken to you.”
Celeste felt her heart swell. She decided that she needed a job and maybe needed to go back to school. She was going to have to do something to work towards their goals and keep from sitting by the phone or listening for his squeaks.
Ron drove home at about two am. He was smiling and at the same time he was worried. Her family didn’t like him. His family wasn’t ready for her. Did they have any chance that things would work out for them? What about Angel? This wasn’t like having a girlfriend or even someone with whom he lived. This was like acquiring an instant family, most of which didn’t like him. It confused him.
When he got home, the phone was ringing. It was Celeste calling to say good night. Ron was tempted to tell her about the doubts that he was having but decided that it was a conversation that was better had in person.
Chapter 25
The party bored Ron and he wondered if there was someplace else that he wanted to be. The girls were pretty and were wearing makeup. Some had their hair teased up. Ron danced with Barbara Infante. It was a slow dance and he could feel the buds of her breasts pressing against him and the motion of her hips pressing against him and he knew it was going to happen and it did. He was sticking out against her. He was sure that she could feel it. He blushed with embarrassment.
When the dance ended he gulped down a paper cup’s worth of fruit punch. It reminded him of the “bug juice” that they served on his one disastrous trip to camp. They had been on a hike and his asthma had kicked in and he had to be taken to the infirmary and the kids nicknamed him “wheezer” because of the sounds that came out of him when he tried to breathe. Marjorie and Rocky had come for him the next day, and he was able to sneak into his cabin while the other kids were at the lake. He was able to pack his things and slip out and never see any of them again.
It wasn’t like that here. If you made a fool of yourself, it followed you forever. He was pretty sure that his erection had gone unnoticed. Barbara Infante was whispering to her friend Carol that she had felt his thing get hard while they were dancing. Ron heard the girls giggle and his entire body stiffened.
He and Richie and Phillip and Dennis walked together after the party. They were talking about how boring it was and how they hated having adults watch them like they were swimming in a fishbowl.
Ron blurted, “Do you think Barbara likes me?”
When he heard the laughter from his friends he knew that he had done one of those stupid things that just wasn’t going to go away.
“So, you’re in love with Barbara Infante,” said Richie.
“No,” said Ron.
“Why did you ask that?” said Phillip.
Ron stammered. He was glad that it was dark and they couldn’t see the way that he was blushing. “I don’t know.”
They laughed again. This was just getting worse.
“Want me to ask her if she likes you?” said Dennis.
“Maybe we should all ask her,” said Richie.
When Ron got home, his mother said, “Ronald you are eleven years old.”
“I know,” said Ron.
“Ten-thirty is far too late to be coming home for an eleven year old boy.”
“It’s because I have to walk so much further than the other kids do,” said Ron.
“Then plan ahead,” said George. He had been drinking. Ron could tell from the red bloat of his face and the smell of beer. His father told him that fools got drunk. Ron thought, right again Dad.
Ron didn’t answer. He wasn’t going to give George the satisfaction of answering him.
“Did you have a good time?” said Marjorie.
“Up until now,” snapped Ron before he thought about it.
“What this kid needs is a good beating,” said George.
Ron snapped again. It was like his mouth was no longer attached to his brain. “Not from you.”
George got up. Marjorie screamed, “George don’t.”
“Go ahead,” said Ron. “I’ll tell my father.”
“You think I’m afraid of Harry Tuck?”
“Say it to his face,” said Ron.
Marjorie began to cry.