“Okay, I get the message. Come on, and I’ll take you home. Jim should be there. He’s been excused from conditioning until his ribs get better, so he’s just hanging out. You two can goof off while I feed you both.”
We snuck out without being caught and were at Suzanne’s house a few minutes later. Jim was in the kitchen. He’d made himself two peanut butter sandwiches. I snatched one off his plate. Jim was a little pissed.
“Dude, you don’t take food from a hungry boy, especially one that outweighs you by at least fifty pounds.”
“You do when I ask your sister to feed us some real food.”
“Ah, that’s different. Then my sandwich is your sandwich.”
Suzanne was amused at us being dorks.
“Will pasta work?”
“Carbs are good before practice.” I winked at Jim. “Your sister knows how to take care of her man.”
She whacked me on the back of the head.
“No hitting on the sister when her little brother is present.”
“Yeah, what she said.”
“You two gang up on this man, and you both won’t be taken out Saturday night.”
Jim laughed.
“You’re a kinky boy, asking a brother and sister out on a date.”
“I was thinking Monical’s and then a movie. Of course, one of you would have to drive.”
“How about Tony’s?” Suzanne asked. “They have great lasagna and unlimited bread sticks. You and Jim can see if you can eat so many they kick you out.”
“I knew there was a reason why we keep your sister around. What do you think, lasagna instead of pizza?”
“Sounds good to me, though I only have one rule: I don’t put out on the first date,” Jim said with a straight face.
“I promise I’ll not make a move on you. Just so you know, Suzanne gets to pick the movie. She, at least, might give me a kiss goodnight.”
The pasta was done. She brought two huge plates out to Jim and me.
“Plus, she’s a better cook than you.”
“Actually, Jim’s a much better cook than I am. It’s a good thing I’m a better kisser,” Suzanne laughed.
“Jim, is she right? Is Suzanne the better kisser?”
“Ah, David, bite me, I’m not kissing you or my sister to find out.”
We all laughed. After we ate, Suzanne gave me a ride to practice. We had a very good practice. At the end, I was a little bummed when I realized that I only had two more days to work with Bo. I owed the man a lot.
WHEN I GOT HOME, I found Mom and Dad in the kitchen. They didn’t look happy, so I sat down.
“What’s wrong?”
Normally they would deflect my question. Ever since my talk with Mom, things had changed. She no longer treated me like a little kid.
“Your dad’s hours got cut. Actually, everyone’s hours got cut. They’re making everyone part-time employees because of the new health-care law. Their CPA figured out it would be cheaper if everyone signed up for the government option. Your dad’s boss is a dick.”
The Park District had turned the operations over to a private firm a few years ago. Ever since they took over, Dad had said they were more worried about the bottom line than the parks or the employees. I think that if Dad didn’t love his job and our town, he would have left when the change happened. The sad truth was that there weren’t a lot of local jobs that Dad’s skills fit.
“With Angie and Kyle moving in, we’re worried that we may have to buy them insurance too. With your dad’s reduced hours and the real estate market being slow, I’m nervous about money,” Mom said.
“What are you thinking?”
I looked at Dad. Dad was the planner of the family. I was sure he’d considered all the options.
“We can take over the payments on the company insurance. It’s not cheap. The government plan requires that we sign up this month and then we can shop plans come the first of the year. There’ll be a gap in insurance for several months if we go that route.
“The state provides a child plan, so we could get you and Greg on that without much problem. I need to talk to Angie and see what she and Kyle are doing. The way things stand right now, with my reduced hours, we’re looking at a shortfall each month of about $400. I can get another part-time job and try to make it up,” Dad explained.
“How are we with savings?” I asked.
“We have some, but nothing we can go a long period using,” Dad answered me.
“Okay, I was planning on talking to you about this after football, but now’s a good time. I want to get a part-time job after the season. I’m sure Greg will get one also. If Greg and I contribute $200 each a month to the household budget, that should keep everything going until we can figure something out.
“Option two is my college fund. I’ll be getting a scholarship,” I offered.
Mom was the final decision maker.
“We’ll talk to Angie tonight and come up with a strategy. Let’s have a family meeting on Sunday.”
“Great, now feed me.”
Mom had a plate in the oven waiting for me. After I ate, I took my nephew back to my apartment. I told Angie I’d keep him for an hour or so. I could see that she was dragging. I was actually surprised when she loaded him up and the guys headed to the bachelor pad.
I, of course, wanted to show him off to my friends. I sent a text to Alice Phillips first, and we jumped onto video chat. She took one look at Kyle and yelled for her mom.
“You better come here. David’s been up to no good and gotten himself in trouble.”
With her mom there, it didn’t take long before her dad and brother showed up.
“Hey, gang, I want to introduce my nephew Kyle to you.”
We talked for a little bit and then I told them I had to show him off to some of my other friends. Tami and the Wesleyan girls loved Kyle. He was quite the little chick-magnet. To his credit, he didn’t embarrass himself. We logged off when he fell asleep.
I took him back to the main house and found both Greg and Angie sound asleep in each other’s arms. I didn’t have the heart to wake them. I took Kyle to my mom and explained what was going on. She took him and promised to let everyone sleep. I went back to my place, and I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 30 – Superman
Thursday October 31
As a kid, Halloween had been my favorite holiday. I went as a farm boy every year because I wasn’t creative enough to come up with a real costume. When I was ten, we had a dog named King. We went everywhere together, including with Greg trick-or-treating. He was great. He got dog treats at almost every home, and they seemed to pony up more candy than normal.
By the time we got home, we had two bags of candy that would last us a lifetime. Okay, until the end of the weekend when we would drop into a sugar coma, and Mom and Dad would steal the rest. Greg left his bag of goodies out, which was a very poor plan, in my estimation. Dad would raid it after we went to bed. Turns out it was a terrible plan. King ate all of Greg’s candy. I felt bad for him, and King was sick, so he was sorry.
Turns out Mom made me sorry: she made me split my candy with Greg. I argued that his poor planning should not be the cause of my losing my haul of treats. She had the mistaken impression that was what brothers did for one another. We now laughed about it. At the time, I was devastated.
At the end of practice, Magic announced that there was a party at his house. I had no intention of going since we had a game tomorrow. All the seniors were going, and they invited all the starters. To their credit, they didn’t push me. They all knew I didn’t drink, and most of them knew the reason why.
Tracy picked me up after practice and took me to her house for dinner. I was happy to see Tom and Mary. I had time to show them some pictures of Kyle, and we ate quickly because Tracy said she needed some time to get our costumes together. She made me go take a shower and shave. When I came out, she had me go to her room and sit in just my boxers at her makeup table.