I grabbed a clean plate from the pantry and loaded it up with some food and took Bradley's seat, and had some supper while Marilyn dawdled over her cake. Arnie came in with a slice of ton cake and sat down across from me. "So, you want in the rotation?", he asked.
I smiled. "So, I passed the audition?"
"You passed." I grinned over at Marilyn, who grinned back at me. "You want cash or do you want me to put it against your bar bill?"
"Put it against my bar bill."
"Where's my cut?!", asked Marilyn. She held her hand out, palm up, and twiddled her fingers.
"Considering what I should be charging you for lessons, I thought we'd call it even."
"Lessons? Think again!"
"True. A gentleman never charges a lady." Arnie snorted at that and stood up. I simply pulled out my wallet and handed Marilyn a ten. "Keep the change. I'll take it in trade later."
"Not if you have that attitude!" Still, she was smiling as she said it.
"Go clean up before you go home. I'd offer to wash your back for you, but I'd rather just take a nap." We headed upstairs while the dishwashing crew took over. Marilyn cleaned up, and I dozed in my armchair at my desk. When she came back from a second shower, I carried her bags out to her car and kissed her good-bye. I would see her in another couple of weeks.
And so it went for the rest of the semester. I went back to Utica in two weeks, and Marilyn visited the frat house two weeks after that. In Utica I was becoming a fixture. Mark kept trying to needle me, but Marilyn kept me calm, and then really ripped him a new asshole one night at the dinner table, during the early November visit. For Thanksgiving, I planned to spend the holiday weekend in Utica with the Lefleurs, much to the disappointment of any frat brothers staying over.
I was worried about what would occur when Harriet and Big Bob found out I was estranged from my family. I dodged that bullet when they asked about it that first weekend in November, simply stating it was too far to travel. They nodded in understanding at that, since it was at least 300 miles away. For Thanksgiving I would drive over to Utica Wednesday morning and stay until Sunday, my longest visit yet.
The house was extra cramped that weekend. I was in my usual spot in the library, but Marilyn had a roommate, too, her Aunt Lynette, who was visiting and sleeping in the same room as the only other adult female. She was Big Bob's baby sister, and only about ten years older than Marilyn and me. She worked in the admissions office at Plattsburgh State. She was the person who Marilyn was named after, sort of. She was a spinster, in that she never married, and as far as I ever knew, never had any romantic inclinations.
She was a little pistol, though, and I do mean little. Lynette was maybe 5'1" tall, if she was standing straight and thinking tall thoughts. One of the rules was that the little kids couldn't think of themselves as "big" until they were as tall as one of the grownups, so they all looked forward to getting as tall as Aunt Lynette and being "big". She got off the hook a generation later, when Peter married a blazingly hot redheaded Irish girl who was only 4'11" tall. Suddenly you had all these nine and ten year old nephews and nieces and grandkids who were "big". You simply had to laugh at it all.
One interesting thing was announced. Harriet was pregnant with number 11, who was expected in the late spring. I don't think a year would pass between Peter and Paul. If nothing else, Harriet and Big Bob had figured out the mathematics of being fruitful and multiplying!
Wednesday went okay, pretty much like my other two visits. Marilyn and I went out to dinner and then she tucked me into bed later, before sneaking up to her room a couple of hours later. Both of us were smiling when she left the library.
The plan for Thursday was to just hang out with the family, watch football in the afternoon, and then suffer through a Lefleur Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe Marilyn could pour a lot of booze into me before dinner. The morning started off fine, and football was okay. I'm not a big fan, but Marilyn's brothers certainly were. For me, while I was always a big fan of the Baltimore Colts, I already knew that they were going to move in a few years to Indianapolis and that just ruined football for me in the future, and for me, that meant now. Tenses get weird with this back to the future shit.
So while the day had started fine, things changed during dinner. Dinner did not go well, not well at all. In fact it was an absolute catastrophic disaster! We were all seated at the dining room table, all except the little kids who were either at the bar or in high chairs. Marilyn was across from me and Lynette was next to me, and since we were the oldest, we were down next to Big Bob and Harriet. "So, Carling, where do you go to school?", asked Lynette.
"RPI."
"Oh, that's a good school! What are you studying?"
"I'm taking mathematics.", I answered.
"Really! What kind of degree is that?", she continued.
Marilyn popped in at that. "Carl's working on his doctorate." She looked over at me. "Isn't that right? You're working on your PhD?"
Suddenly it felt like the whole room was staring at me. I nodded. "Technically I don't start until next semester, but I've already started working with Professor Rhineburg, and he's agreed to be my thesis adviser."
"Your PhD? Oh my! That's amazing!", said Lynette.
I tried to shrug it off, but it was out there now. Big Bob stared at me. "You're going to be a doctor?"
"Of mathematics, sir."
"Damn fool thing to be going into the army then.", he said huffily. "If you're so smart, why didn't you get a real scholarship?" I just rolled my eyes and bit my tongue.
"Just how old are you, Carl?", asked Harriet.
"I just turned 19, ma'am."
"What are you, some kind of genius?", asked Mark.
I put my utensils down and wiped my mouth with my napkin. Mark was trying to push my buttons again, and had been all day long. Worst of all was that his parents knew what he was doing and didn't call him on it. Marilyn had gotten into it with him a couple of times earlier in the day, but he hadn't stopped and his parents hadn't said anything to him. I wondered if they were trying to test me. Marilyn couldn't figure it out, either. For instance, earlier that day Mark had heard her laughing at me about being a Boy Scout, and he had started in on it. I simply recited the Scout Law while his parents listened in, and then asked if he thought his sister should be dating a guy who didn't believe those things. He had just sneered and then left the room.
Now, as he rode me about working on a doctorate, I looked over at him and said, "Yes, Mark, that's exactly what I am. Is there a problem with that?"
He blinked his eyes and tried for a comeback. "Yeah, I think you're full of crap! If you're so smart, what are you doing with Marilyn?" That got a number of laughs from his brothers. I noticed that Harriet and Big Bob weren't laughing, but they weren't telling their kids to shut up, either.