by Ed Nelson
My turn to embarrass her!
“Maybe one day big boy, you have a lot of wooing to do before you get there.”
So she doesn’t embarrass easily. I’m beginning to think females embarrass less easily than guys.
I thought about bringing up my trip to California, and my Dads comments on that but decided to leave that well enough alone. Of course that didn’t hold up for a minute.
“Rick, you are leaving for California and the movie crowd at the end of the month. Until I see what person comes back I don’t want to go any further than we have.”
“We haven’t done anything but kissed.”
“Exactly,” she replied. At that she gave me a light kiss and told me she had to head home. I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad or whatever. Why are women so confusing?
That night I reread Tom Swift and his Flying Machine in a much simpler world.
Chapter 45
Friday was a nothing sort of day. All of us kids were in the basement shooting pool, bad mouthing each other in Spanish. We were getting very good in certain areas, we could talk about pool but not physics. Of course Mary didn’t understand physics yet. Well not the words. She certainly was getting the hang of force and angles. Denny and Eddie could beat me, now Mary was on her way.
It wasn’t that I was bad, they were all good. Our Uncle Wally had been over a few weeks ago and was roped into a game by Denny. Wally won but then he had lived in pool halls when he was a kid.
As a matter of fact he still spent a lot of time in them. Anyway he wanted to teach Denny some of the finer points then take him to various pool halls and play for money.
“We could make a fortune on the side bets,” Wally told Dad.
Dad told him what he thought and that ended Denny’s professional pool career. Wally wanted to argue but Dad reminded him of the times he had to bail Wally out of jail and once out of the hospital.
Anyway we were shooting pool in the basement when Dad called me up stairs. Standing in the kitchen was Mr. Hicks. He handed me his typed notes.
He said, “I’m in a bit of a hurry so just sign these and I will move on.”
I looked at Dad and he shook his head.
“We would like Eugene Burke to read them over before Rick signs anything.”
“I don’t have time for that, sign these now.”
“They won’t be signed until we have had a chance to review them.”
“Do you realize you are interfering with an Officer of the Court? I’m trying to do my job and you are obstructing me. That is illegal. Now sign this so I can move on,” Hicks blustered.
Mum spoke up, “Why don’t I obstruct your arse with this broomstick. Now you move on.”
He couldn’t get out the door fast enough.
“Now you are threatening me, you will be hearing about this!”
After he left I noticed Mum was still holding her broom. However she was holding it like a quarterstaff not a sweeping broom. I really wonder about her at times.
Since it was Friday, Dad called Mr. Burkes office and he was in. We took the papers down for him to review. When he was done he told us not to sign these. He pointed out where Hicks had twisted words to imply that Rick had treated Sam Butler. He told us not to worry about Hicks that he would take care of it.
“How,” Dad asked?
“I’m going to deliver both sets of notes, his and mine to Judge Traul who heads the committee on attorney conduct. It is the word of the three of us against Hicks. At the minimum my notes will be accepted and at the best Hicks will be censured. While I think of it both of you write out the events of this morning and what was said.”
Dad and I remembered things slightly different, but not much. We both well remembered Mum telling him she would obstruct his arse with a broomstick. Mr. Burke loved that. He told us,
“That’s too good of a story not to share. I can’t do it without permission because of attorney client privilege, but would we mind?”
Dad laughed and told him that was fine, share away. The image created, was a housewife about to sweep him out of our kitchen, which was funny and hurt Hick’s dignity. What I remembered was a warrior about to break his head with a quarterstaff!
That was the highlight of Friday. Tom called Friday afternoon and wanted to know if I would like to go roller skating Saturday night.
I said, “Sure do you mind if I invite Cheryl?”
“Give Cheryl a call, Tracy has already spoken to her, and her parents have agreed.”
That meant that at least half a dozen phone calls had been made. I think that I might be the last person to ever know what is going on. I suspect that I would find out that I was getting married by being told to show up at the church at a certain time and place.
We had fun Saturday night. The new plastic floor, when combined with plastic wheels on the skates, was wonderful. Some of the skaters who owned their skates still had wooden wheels and they were noisy.
There was a sign up that said they had to replace the wheels by the end of the month. You could actually hold a conversation while skating. There really was a difference in the smoothness of the floor.
Cheryl and I cuddled in the backseat on the way home but I didn’t try anything. I received a light kiss at the door. I would have stayed for more but Tom honked his horn. Cheryl thanked me for a nice evening and being a gentleman. I think that was a hint.
That night I started a series about an early pioneer. I thought Hurry Harry and Tom Hutter were about the stupidest people who ever lived.
Sunday was a quiet day. I took a long walk just to get out of the house. It was too cold to run but the walk was nice. I thought about the events of my Christmas vacation. Overall it was a good time off from school though I could have done without the talk on New Year’s Day.
To be continued in Book 3: Hollywood the Richard Jackson Saga
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