“Have you ever wished you could unsee something? Well, I wish I’d never seen that. It seems that the post you crank down to raise the camper off the hitch hung lower than the car. The post had not missed the hog. I guess that the carcass must have been swollen from the heat because it exploded upon impact, and gore spewed all over the camper and the back of the car. Then the smell hit me, and I was done. I joined the gas station attendant in barfing. What makes me really sad was I no longer even wanted pecan pie. To this day, I regret not stopping at the diner to get a slice. I really would like to know what the best pecan pie in Georgia tasted like.
“Greg came out, eating a doughnut. The so-and-so had used his Christmas money and hadn’t thought to share. Mom and Dad had rules about things like that. If you got something, you got enough for everyone. I realize it was wrong, but I pointed around the side of the car. Greg strolled over and looked at me with a confused expression, but I pointed again. He was curious and looked. I’ve prayed for forgiveness, but I’m not sure God believes I’m really sorry about what I did. Greg dropped his offending jelly doughnut on the ground and ran for the bathroom, but only made it a couple of steps before he threw up.
“Mom and I refused to get back into the car until Dad took it to the carwash and cleaned up the mess. My poor dad is always the one that gets a task like that. Frankly, I’m surprised he didn’t just leave us there. Years later, Uncle John still complains about finding hog hair lodged in crevices of the camper,” I finished and found blank stares looking back at me.
On cue, a server brought the tables three plates of nachos with all the fixings. I took one look at the messy appetizer, and an evil grin crept onto my face.
“Mmmm, pork,” I said.
Some people have no sense of humor.
◊◊◊
Everyone had a great time. High Velocity was perfect for a bunch of football players. They had sixty-five big-screen TVs showing sports. The food was good bar food. My mom and Phil’s mom even seemed to hit it off somewhat. I’d been worried when I had Phil tag along. They say you can’t pick your family, and it looked like Mom and Vickie were going to make an effort to work it out. I noticed my dad stayed far away from the two of them, clearly smarter than I usually gave him credit for.
When the bill finally came, I was relieved to see that I hadn’t been stuck with the entire tab. Most of the parents had taken care of themselves. It still totaled almost a grand, but I really did want to thank my teammates and the other people who’d helped me out over time. It was also good to know that the three plates of nachos hadn’t gone to waste. Phil had taken them and handed them out to our teammates.
When we got back, Coach Mason took me to his room, and we went over my reads. With him here, it was easier for him to explain what I was looking at. Anytime you had someone with his knowledge willing to teach you, you took advantage of it. When we approached midnight, we decided to call it a night.
When I returned to my room, Phil was still awake.
“I told Coach Hope where you were at curfew. Are you having sex with all the cheerleaders?” Phil asked.
“You do know that’s not something you should ask,” I warned.
He just shook his head.
“I can’t believe you’d rather spend time with Coach Mason than the girls that stopped by. I’d give just about anything to have sex.”
“Are you a virgin?” I asked.
I remembered when Cindy had asked me that very question. Phil blushed almost as much as I had. I wasn’t sure whether Lincoln High was ready for another boy from the Dawson clan to be set loose on the females. Between Greg and me, we had bedded more than our share. As I thought about it, I decided I wasn’t ready to take him under my wing, like Greg had me.
He still hadn’t answered me, so I just let it drop and got ready for bed. We had a big day tomorrow, and I needed to get my sleep.
◊◊◊
Chapter 3 – Was it Something I Said? Thursday November 5
I got up to do my morning run. I didn’t want to end up in a bad neighborhood, so I asked the girl at the front desk what direction I should go. She told me that if I ran towards where we’d gone to dinner last night, there was a state park called White River. Even though the Holiday Inn Express offered a complimentary breakfast, what they had available didn’t interest me, so she suggested a diner I could go to.
I began my run, and it took me by the football stadium. It was different from running at home. Everything was paved over, and a slight smell of exhaust fumes hung in the air. When she’d said ‘state park,’ I’d expected something more like a forest. What I found reminded me of our park at home, except this one had large metal art scattered throughout it. There was also a zoo and outdoor stage for concerts.
I wasn’t alone in the park; there were other people out running. They looked like they were all older, and most seemed to be professionals. I had to laugh when this one guy was running with his shirt off. This must be a place to pick up girls because when I circled around to head back, he was chatting up a woman as I ran by. I took a closer look, and he obviously spent a lot of time working out. I still didn’t consider it a good idea to run this time of year without a shirt on. It was a little too cold for that.
As I ran, I started to notice that many of the women would make eye contact and smile at me. I was feeling adventurous, so I waited until I came across a cute brunette who appeared younger than most, and when she smiled, I stopped. She stepped in front of me and gave me a brazen inspection from head to groin to toe.
“I was going to go get breakfast. Care to join me?” I asked.
“You seem a little young,” she said.
“I’ll ask someone else,” I said and started to step around her. She moved to the side to block my way.
“I like a confident man. I guess I’ll let you buy me breakfast,” she said. She grabbed my hand, and we began to jog.
My ‘date’ cracked me up when she checked out my butt as we ran to the diner. I’d been under the impression that only guys were that aggressive. Maybe I might like older women. I also realized that this was a better way to meet the type of woman who interested me than going to a bar. A woman who ran would be athletic and have a nice butt. I could get behind a firm bottom.
When we arrived at the diner, we sat down at a booth that overlooked the park. The server handed us menus and left us to get to know each other. I was interested in how this worked. After all, a little research might be useful in case I ever needed some company in a strange town.
“So, what do you do?” I asked.
“I just moved here from Dayton and started at Eli Lilly as a programmer. How about yourself?”
“I do some modeling.”
“Sorry, I need to change my answer. I’m a brain surgeon. Next, you’ll tell me you’re only in town for a few days, and we owe it to ourselves to spend some quality time together.”
“Does that usually work? Because I am only in town today and will leave tomorrow. We could skip breakfast if you’re in a hurry,” I shot back.
“So you’re cheap as well. You won’t even spring for breakfast.”
“Hypothetically, if I were to pick you up jogging and treat you to breakfast, what would it take to spend some quality time with you?” I asked.
“Hypothetically, you’d need to come up with a better line than you’re a model. Maybe if you said you were a stock trader or insurance salesman, something normal. When you hit a girl with the whole model shtick, she’s going to get her guard up.”
“But what if I really were a model?” I asked.
“Then you wouldn’t be hitting on someone like me.”
“What if I told you I was a quarterback? Would that be any better?”