Chapter 26
Before Ron had known Robin and before he had known Zoe, he’d been with Julie. She had long straight dark hair. She loved Marjorie. They had a bond. When Ron left her, Marjorie had cried but then she had written and over the years she learned that Julie had won an award for being a reporter in Texas. She’d gotten a promotion to a station in Windsor Canada that broadcasted into Detroit.
Marjorie wrote, “Ronald is making a terrible mistake and I think that you are the only one who can save him. I know that he loves you and that you have never wanted anything but what was best for the both of you. I want you to come here. I’ve always wanted to embrace you like my daughter.”
When Julie got the message, she stared at it for a long time. Did Marjorie know that she had a daughter now? What was she asking her to do? She looked over at her sleeping child and felt a pang. She had dreamed more than once that it was Ron’s child, but she knew that it wasn’t. In the final analysis, he just hadn’t wanted her.
Maybe he would now? Maybe the years and the experiences had changed him. Maybe he was ready. If he was, she was too. She felt a fire inside of her when she thought about him. He was unabashed. She felt that tingle between her legs and cursed her pussy. Except that her vagina had produced her daughter. It wasn’t all bad. And if he saw her daughter and met her, he would be captivated. That was how he was and she knew it. But why was Marjorie so insistent and what was this mistake? It could only be another woman who was not Robin. Marjorie wouldn’t have written if it was Robin. She’d sent her into that battle before and hugged her after she was bruised and cut from previous skirmishes. Most of all, Marjorie knew that Julie couldn’t win. She wouldn’t do that to her again. She picked up the phone and dialed Marjorie’s number.
“Marge, it’s Julie.”
“I’m so glad that you called.”
“What’s wrong?”
“He wants to get married.”
“To who?”
“Some Italian girl that he hardly knows.”
“Why?”
“I think that he feels like time is passing him by, and he wants to start a real life.”
“I think that we all get that way sometimes,” said Julie.
“Do you still love him?”
“Yes.”
“After all this time and everything that he’s done?”
“I know I sound stupid Marjorie, but yes.”
“Then you’d better get out here.”
“How can I do that? I have no reason.”
“It’s going to be George’s birthday and you’re invited.”
“This is the last time that I’m going to do anything like this,” said Julie.
“It should be,” said Marjorie.
It was easy for Julie to schedule a flight. Her Dad was a pilot and she had a card that allowed her to fly for the price of the tax. Newark Airport was a hub. She thought about how she met Ron and the roller coaster that had been their relationship. She had been taking a summer course at the local community college when they met. By the time the fall began, they were an item and spent each weekend together. One weekend he would drive up to her college and spend the nights in her dorm room and the other she would drive down to his house and stay in his room. That was when she grew close with Marjorie. They played with each other’s hair. They shared secrets. Marjorie told Ron that as long as he was on the couch when she woke up in the morning that she wouldn’t give him a hard time. She stopped walking into Ron’s room without knocking on the door. He introduced Julie to Chris and Laureen and the four of them went places together. She gave him a guitar and he played it horribly. She smiled and grimaced at the same time thinking about the way that he abused that poor guitar. Then she remembered the feel of his hands and the incredibly long eye lashes that he had. She pictured the broadness of his shoulders and smiled. Warren Lashly had been the death of them. Maybe that was unfair but she had grown to hate Warren and his interrogations. She hated the way that Ron looked up to him and let Lashly’s words and ideas become his guiding principles.
Then she met Jeff. He went to her school and she began sleeping with him during the week. He knew about Ron but didn’t care. He managed the radio station and there were plenty of girls that he could have. If she wanted her shift to be regular, she knew what he expected. She brought Ron to the radio station and instantly the two young men took a dislike to each other. Ron had gone with her into Manhattan when she was getting her 3rd class broadcaster’s license. He quizzed her on the train ride in and then decided to take the test as well. It had amazed her that he passed and she let him talk on the air during her show.
Then they drifted. Every weekend became every other weekend and then it was one weekend a month and then he was gone. It had been tearful but she was relieved. She felt it was coming.
Years later he came to see her while she was doing news updates on the AM dial. She was lonely and he felt so good. He was working in a jail trying to teach kids to read and write, and she had just been named woman broadcaster of the year for a ten part series that she’d done on women in Texas. When he left, she cried and decided that their timing was just so bad that it just wasn’t going to work. Now they were in their 30’s and she knew that she looked good. It was time. She had a failed marriage and a daughter and he had been ripped apart by a relationship with a woman who enjoyed watching him suffer. She could see where that could become addictive.
Chapter 27
What actually happened was Phillip confided to Carol that Ron wanted to know if Barbara liked him.
Carol scrunched up her face and said, “I don’t think so but I’ll ask her.”
Among the girls it was known that Barbara really liked Richie, but that wasn’t something that she would share with a boy. It would be a betrayal that would make Barbara her enemy forever.
When she told Barbara, the girl let out one of her patented, “Eww’s”
Carol giggled. “Well you did say that his thing got all excited.”
“Exactly,” said Barbara.
The girls giggled again. Then a thought struck Barbara. “He sits right next to me. How am I going to look at him?”
“And not get his thing excited?” teased Carol.
“I’m serious, Carol. How am I supposed to look at him now and read his sloppy papers?”
“How bad are they?”
“The answers are mostly right and he studies but he writes like he is using some kind of tool and needs to cut the words into the paper.”
“In other words, he’s rough and careless?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe he’s just nervous,” said Carol. “Being the new kid and those rumors about him and then he broke Richie’s nose.”
“Did you know that he doesn’t know how to ride a bike?”
“You’re kidding!” said Carol.
“Nope, Richie told me that the guys all made fun about him because of it.”
Carol felt sorry for Ron but she could understand why Barbara didn’t want to be linked to him.
During the next day of classes, Barbara was careful not to look at him. He seemed oblivious. That angered her. She wanted him to look at her so that she could ignore him, but he didn’t seem to care. She thought of passing him a note that read, I don’t like you. Leave me alone. But he was leaving her alone and the note would look stupid.
All Ron was able to think about was how much he hated George. His mother had punished him for his outburst and he hadn’t been allowed to go out of the house the next day. He just stayed in his room and read. He came out for dinner and ate without saying anything. He helped to clean up and then he was back in his room.
Ron was wallowing in his reverie of hostility when he heard his name. He looked up to see the faces of the kids in the class turned in his direction. Mary Salvatore was coming down the aisle in his direction.
“So nice of you to join us, Mr. Tuck. May I see what you have been so absorbed with that you didn’t hear me call on you twice?” She picked up the book that was on his desk. It was the same book that they were all reading from and there wasn’t anything hidden in it but he was two pages behind. She stared hard at him. “So you’ve been daydreaming. Would you like to share what you were daydreaming about with everyone?”
“No, Sister.”
“Do you find what we are doing here so boring that you are unable to concentrate?”
“No, Sister.”
“That’s good. Then you’ll be happy to stand up and read for us.”
Carol wrote a quick note and passed it to Phillip. “Maybe he’s thinking about Barbara.” They both grinned.
Ron stood and read flawlessly. It was written in children’s language. It retold the story of the Prodigal Son. Ron almost stopped and asked if would be ok if he read it from an actual bible, but he knew that he was being reprimanded for not paying attention. It was time for him to learn how to make things easier on himself. Hadn’t his mother done that when she married George? At least, wasn’t that what she thought that she doing?
That night at dinner Ron announced, “I want to convert to being a Catholic.”
Marjorie looked stunned. George didn’t react. He was born Catholic. He was staying that way. That’s what you were supposed to do. You looked at your plate saw what was there and ate it without complaining.
“And just when did you decide this?”
“While I was walking home,” said Ron.
“Your grand-mother would turn over in her grave.”
“You’re the one who made me go to that school. It’s not my fault.”
“You know very well why you were sent to that school, Ronald. Would you have rathered that I let them send you to a reformatory?”
“Well, now I want to be a Catholic.”
“Do we have to have these conversations at dinner?” said George.
Marjorie took the opportunity to turn on him. “When would suggest that we have them? Whenever anyone starts talking about anything that has any importance, you get up and walk away. Maybe he figures that as long as there is food, at least you’ll stay and listen.” Then she turned back to Ron. “You’re not becoming a Catholic. You were born a Protestant. You were raised a Protestant and that’s how it’s going to stay.”
“No it isn’t, Mom. We have freedom of religion in this country.”
“I don’t know what’s happening to you,” she said staring into his eyes. “You used to be such a nice boy.”
“Look where that got me.”
“Why are you doing this to me? Why do you need to hurt me?”
“You said that I should think for myself and that’s what I’m doing.”
Marjorie hated it when he gave her that look and sounded like his father.
Chapter 28
Ron tried to be cheerful as he drove Celeste and Angel down to meet Marjorie and George for the first time, but he had a sense that it might be tense. Celeste was nervous about it. They had waited a while, but things were moving quickly now. It was hard to realize that she had only been with him for a little over two weeks. It seemed so much longer.
The plan was for dinner in the backyard and the weather was cooperating. It was a mild evening with a light breeze. Maybe that was an omen that everything was going to be ok, thought Ron.
Marjorie had cooked and the kitchen was very warm. She was sweating and she blamed it on Ron and this girl, whoever she was. He still had his key to the house, but it didn’t seem right to use it on this occasion. He walked up to the front door with angel in his left arm. Her hands were around his neck as he rang the doorbell. George came to the door. Dandy barked. Angel tensed. Celeste said, “I didn’t know your mom had a dog”
George opened to the door and said, “You forget your key?”
Ron shrugged. “George, this is Celeste and this is Angel.”
“Nice to meet you,” said George smiling.
They walked down the hall next to the flight of stairs that led up to the second floor apartment. In the dark blocking the side door that was never used, Ron glanced down at his Aunt’s old record player. He missed her and sure could have used her help tonight.
“They’re here,” announced George as they walked into the dining room that had once been their bedroom when Ron still lived there. Marjorie came out of the kitchen and smiled politely.
“Mom, this is Celeste and this is Angel.”
The sight of the little girl in his arms made Marjorie want to cry. “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Celeste.” Marjorie tried not to look at Angel who was waiting to be greeted and made a fuss over.
“I’m happy to meet you too,” said Celeste, noticing that neither one of them had said anything to Angel, who did not want Ron to put her down.
“We should go out into the yard. It’s too hot in this kitchen,” said Marjorie. She picked up her cigarettes and led them out the back door.
Celeste glanced around. It was a large kitchen, the kind that she loved. She could see immediately that a lot of time was spent there. They walked out into a backyard that was good sized, long and more narrow than hers was. Marjorie sat down at redwood table and lit a cigarette. Then she said, “Ron, would you go into the kitchen and get my Crystal Lite?”
“Sure.” Ron handed Angel to Celeste.
“Would you like something to drink, Angel?” said Marjorie.
Angel felt shy and a little frightened of the white dog who was energetically wagging his tail and wanting to play. She didn’t answer for a moment and then said, “No, thank you.”
“Oh you do know how to talk?” said Marjorie smiling. Celeste wasn’t sure that’s he liked the comment, but knew that Marjorie would find out soon enough how well-spoken Angel was.
“That’s a great tree,” said Celeste, looking at the massive oak that shaded the entire yard.
“It’s been here longer than we have,” said Marjorie.
Ron came back with his mother’s glass of ice tea in one hand and a pitcher of the stuff in his other. He set them down and said to Angel, “Watch this.”
He picked up a beach ball that was lying on the grass and Dandy barked and wagged his fluffy tail furiously. Ron tossed the ball to Dandy who perfectly head butted it back up into Ron’s hands. Angel giggled and said, “Make him do it again.”
Ron happily obliged as they all watched and Marjorie smoked. He was showing off for them. It was cute but she hated it.
“Would you like some Crystal Lite before dinner?” said Marjorie, looking at Celeste.
“Thank you.” Celeste put Angel down and reached for the pitcher but Angel clung hard to her back and Celeste dropped the glass. It spread across the tablecloth that Marjorie had laid out. George got up and hurried into the house for some paper towels. “I’m sorry,” said Celeste. “I guess she’s a little nervous.”
“Nothing to be sorry for,” said Marjorie in a tone that implied that there was. The Crystal Lite had almost reached the stack of paper plates, when George came out with a roll of paper towels. “Hurry up! We don’t want it to ruin them too.” George caught it in time. Ron dropped the ball and came over to the table. Angel clung to Celeste. Dandy followed him eagerly. Ron picked up the stack of plates as George wiped the table.
“You’ll have to wipe it down with a sponge,” said Marjorie. “Otherwise it will be a sticky mess.”
“I’ll get it,” said Ron.
Celeste wondered if they could just leave and come back again like this never happened. She said, “What a way to make an impression.”
Marjorie said, “Well, let’s eat.”
It took several trips in and out the backdoor to carry out the bowls and platter. George and Ron and Marjorie made the trips. Celeste sat there wanting to help but Angel was back in her arms. She wasn’t used to not helping.
“I made one of your favorites,” said Marjorie.
Ron smiled at the platter of pork chops mixed with sauerkraut and potatoes. “Did you use Aunt Dottie’s pot?”
“Of course I did. It won’t be as good as hers was though.”
Chapter 29
Ron stayed after school the next day and asked Sister Mary Salvatore what he should do if he was interested in converting. She looked very surprised and pleased.
“This is an important decision Ronald. Are you sure that it is what you want?”
“I’m pretty sure.”
“Why is it what you want?”
That was a good question and Ron wasn’t sure how to answer. He thought for a moment. Suppose he said the wrong thing and they wouldn’t let him. “This Church goes back to the time of Jesus,” said Ron. “It’s the religion that he wanted.”
“Well that’s a good reason. Is it your only reason?”
Ron decided that he would tell this nun the truth. “No, but it’s my best one.”
“What are your other reasons?”
“The Church I used to go to closed. I really don’t feel like I have a church now and I don’t think that’s good for me.”
“You don’t go to church at all anymore?” The nun looked concerned. No wonder he had gotten into trouble.
“At Christmas time and at Easter. That’s pretty much it.”
“Is there any other reason?” the nun probed.
Ron sighed. “I want to fit in.”
“That’s the first reason that you’ve mentioned that isn’t a good one. But you knew that already, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Sister.”
“Have you spoken to your mother about this and your father?”
“I told my mother.”
“Does she support your choice?”
“She’ll get used to it.”
“Have you told your father?”
“Not yet.”
“May I ask why?”
“I don’t see him very much anymore. He plays golf now, and sometimes he forgets to come and pick me up.”
“Don’t you think that you should tell him?”
“To be honest Sister, I don’t think he’ll care. He’s not a religious man. He’ll say that I should do what I think I should do.”
“I’ll set up an appointment at the rectory for you Ronald.”
Chapter 30
After the dinner during which Angel pissed Marjorie off by being clingy with both Ron and Celeste, Marjorie caught Ron in the kitchen and said, “This girl isn’t for you.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Didn’t you learn from happened to me?” she said flatly.
“I learned,” said Ron. “I learned not to believe people’s promises. Is that how you want me to go through life, not trusting anyone?”
“I’m just saying that I know you better than anyone, and I telling you that you can do better than this.”
“It isn’t a contest, Mom.”
“Don’t pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“I love her and that’s what matters to me. She loves me as well.”
“She’s desperate and you’re her way out.”
“That’s unfair.”
“I might as well tell you now then. I’ve invited Julie to come to George’s birthday party.”
Ron was stunned. He hadn’t spoken to Julie in years. He didn’t even know where she was and he surely didn’t know that his mother was in touch with her. “That’s great Mom. I’m bringing Celeste.”
“Julie is a nice girl who cares about you.”
“Just stop it, OK?”
“Sure, I’ll just sit by and watch my only son ruin his life.”
Ron went out the back door and found Celeste sitting with Angel in her arms. She looked nervous and Angel looked sleepy.
His mother followed him out the door and Ron said, “I think we are going to get going. Angel needs to have a bath and she’s getting sleepy.”
‘Do what you want,” said Marjorie. “You will anyway.”
George said, “It was nice to meet you, Celeste. I hope that I see you at my birthday party.”
Marjorie looked at George like she wanted to spit on him. Ron decided that a quick exit was in order. Celeste thanked Marjorie for having her and Angel to dinner.
“I’m sure we’ll get to know each other sooner or later,” said Marjorie.