The Freak - S01 E04

Story 2 months ago

The Freak - S01 E04

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 4

commented, "Who's the babe with your folks?"

"Don't get any ideas. She's my date. I met her in church last Sunday. We're going to Albanese's after we get out of here. Want to join us?" He said he'd ask his girlfriend and let me know.

My youngest sister, Carole, ran out to me, jumping up into my arms. "You played great, J.J. I loved those dunks." pulled her up so I could kiss her cheek, but she threw her arms around my neck even though I was a sweaty mess. I noticed my other sister, Marie, scribbling madly in her notebook. She always kept a record of my points, rebounds, and blocks, taking great pride in announcing my stats to our parents.

She looked up a moment later. "Holy cow, J.J.-you almost scored as many points as their whole team. You had 68 and 29 rebounds and-walt a second-8 blocks. Great game, you didn't miss a single shot the entire second half!" I gripped her by the head and leaned down to kiss her forehead. I knew my folks wanted to leave so said my good-byes then took Barbara by the hand and led her over to where my teammates' girlfriends were sitting.

"Guys, this is Barbara. Barbara... Mariene, Carolyn, and Teri. Would you sit with her for a while so she's not alone? She doesn't know anyone here. They agreed so squeezed her hand before running upstairs to hear Coach Darling's critique of the game. I wasn't really listening as I stripped off my uniform and took the special scissors from my locker to cut the tape from my legs and feet. The tape was soaked with sweat-something verified when stepped on the scale. had lost seven and a half pounds in water weight during the game, fairly typical for me.

The mood in the shower-just twelve shower heads in a large rectangular room covered with white tiles-was jocular and carefree. I doubted that we'd face another opponent as good as New Rochelle until deep into the state tournament and we'd shown that we could handle them easily. I rejoined Barbara in the gym only fifteen minutes later. I had my jacket, slacks, and shirt on a hanger as I approached. I saw Tony and Carolyn and Richie and Marlene leaving through the back door. "I guess they didn't want to join us at Albanese's."

"No...they said something about watching the submarine races." (Okay, a brief historical note is needed here for those of you who didn't grow up in the New York Metro area in the fifties and sixties Probably the most popular and influential deejay of the time was Murray Kaufman, known throughout the area as "Murray the K" on

AM station 1010 WINS. He coined many expressions, but by far the most popular was his "submarine race watching," a euphemism for a make-out session even though many times there was a lot more going on than making out.)

"Okay, I'm sure they'll have a good time. However, I promised you pizza and I'm sure you'll understand that I'm hungry. I never have much to eat before a game for obvious reasons." took her hand and we walked out into the cold clear night.

I laid my clothes in the trunk right after opening the door for Barbara, joining her in the cold car a few seconds later. I had the heater on "HIGH" as soon as the car had warmed up a little. By then I was en route to White Plains Road where turned right toward Eastchester. I turned off about a mile later and from there it was only a half mile to Albanese's. We walked in through the bar and I wasn't at all surprised to see my coach, my baseball coach, and the school's assistant principal enjoying a cold one at the bar. I introduced Barbara then excused us to the restaurant.

We took a booth as I hung our coats onto a rack that was attached to her bench. "I enjoyed the game, Jack. I thought you played great. Those people sure do yell a lot."

"Yeah, they're great fans. What would you like to drink?" I ordered a pitcher once she had told me "Coke."

"You probably noticed that sweat a lot during the game. It's not unusual for me to go through three or four towels. I actually lost more than seven pounds, but that's nothing compared to practice. I need to drink a lot to make up for the water loss otherwise I'll wake up around three with cramps in my legs.

"Is every game like this one?"

I had to laugh. "No, most of our games are routs and that's not just because of me. Basketball is the ultimate team game because there are only five players on a team. In baseball a player could go the entire game without a chance in the field and in football it's possible to take some plays off because the action is going the other way. Well...you can do that on offense, but in basketball every player has to be in on every play, both on offense and defense. One good player just doesn't do it. We have seven good players in my grade. The two subs are good enough to start on a lot of the teams we play against.

"What kind of pie do you want?" We talked about the options

before deciding on a plain cheese pie. Being Catholic meant no

meat on Fridays back then. Well, it did if you were religious. My mother served us meat-free meals on Fridays, but if I went out on my own I never thought twice about having some sausage on my pizza or even a burger.

We chatted idly for a while before I asked if she would allow me to take her on a real date tomorrow night. Smiling slyly she said, "I don't know. What did you have in mind?"

"Well...I suppose we could go bowling. That's usually fun or we could go to the movies in New Rochelle or Mount Vernon. I don't think the drive-ins are open now. Or I could take you out to dinner in Manhattan and then to a Broadway show."

Barbara's mouth dropped and stayed there a few seconds before she recovered. "Really? You mean that? What would we see?"

"Of course, I mean it. I know can get tickets for 'West Side Story and for 'Irma La Douce."

"I've heard about West Side Story, but what's the other one?"

"Are you taking French?" She shook her head "no," so continued. "It means "Irma the Sweet' It's a comedy that takes place in Paris sometime in the past the thirties maybe. Irma is a prostitute and the other main character is a naïve police officer. It's a comedy and there's no actual sex in the play, but there is a lot of suggestive dialog. Everything I've read about it is very positive-in fact Hollywood's making a movie of it. I read recently that Shirley MacLaine is going to play Irma with Jack Lemmon as the cop."

"It sounds like fun, but I'm afraid the nuns would skin me alive if I saw it. Can we see "West Side Story' instead?"

"Of course, I'll phone for the tickets tomorrow morning. I'll have to pick you up around 4:30 because we'll have to take the train to Grand Central and then we'll take cabs to the restaurant and theater. You'd better ask Mr. and Mrs. Gleason if you can stay out after midnight. I'll try to get you home by then, but we could have trouble getting a cab and we're stuck with the train schedule, too." She was about to speak, but stopped as the waitress slid the pie onto the table.

We were mostly silent while we ate. I refilled her glass with Coke,

but I could see that she'd just as soon that drank it. She must

have been hungry, because she ate three pieces to my five. I knew

that I was starving between skipping even an early dinner and then

evacuating my stomach before the game, I was just finishing my

final plece when Barbara asked how I had found this place.

"Actually, my parents found it. My dad is involved in the Eastchester Fire Department and so is Mr. Albanese although they're in different stations. They still go to the same training sessions and I know they were both Station Chiefs a few years ago. Mr. Albanese often stops by and he used to offer me free meals until insisted that had to pay. It's one thing to offer my parents something free, but can't accept anything." I paid the bill a few minutes later and we walked to my car. It was just barely 11:00.

"What would you like to do now? We probably have at least half an hour before I have to take you home."

She gave me a coy smile before replying. "Do they have any of those submarine races around here?"

"As a matter of fact, they do." I started the car and drove to an apartment complex near my home in Chester Heights. The road went past the end of the apartments where it ended at a turn- around. There were always places to park here. I made the turn and pulled over to the curb, turning the car's engine off, but leaving the radio on. Murray the K was still on 1010 WINS. Barbara slid over to me and raised her face to mine. I leaned down to kiss her and was surprised at how widely her mouth was open when our lips met. We kissed for almost a minute, our tongues dueling until I broke it.

"Have you kissed many boys before me?"

"Ummm, no-does it show?"

"A little; try to relax a bit more and open your mouth a little less. Our tongues will still be able to... well, you get the idea." Then I stopped talking and we kissed again. She was much better this time around, so much better that I wanted to do it again and again. We stayed there for about half an hour until had to get her home. There was no traffic at that hour so we were actually a few minutes early. We spent those minutes getting to know each other even better. All I knew was that I couldn't wait until tomorrow night. I promised I'd call her once I had bought the tickets.

I phoned the theater at 9:30, giving my credit card number over the phone as well as my name. The tickets, the best I could get were in the Orchestra, row twenty-one-center. They would be at the "Will Call window and I was reminded to bring my driver's license as

Identification. I phoned Barbara as soon as I had ended the first call. We spoke for a few minutes before I had to go. One of my jobs at home was cleaning my bathroom and tidying my room and there was no excuse that my mother would accept. This was hardly my favorite chore, but I knew from experience that would be done with it in less than an hour so the sooner I started the better.

I ate a relatively light lunch-four hot dogs cut into inch-long pieces then fried until the skins were burnt and served with a big dollop of mustard. I washed it down with a big glass of milk. As soon as lunch was done I began to shine my shoes for the week All four of us-my sisters and l-always wore shoes to school and, of course, to church. We had sneakers and sandals, but there would be hell to pay if we ever tried to wear them to school. The same was true for our clothes. At home I wore jeans almost exclusively, but if tried to wear them to school I'd probably be dead. As big as was I was relatively small compared to my dad. His arms were the size of my legs and my legs were big and muscular.

I had just finished my three pair of shoes-black and cordovan loafers and black dress shoes-when my little sister Carole asked if I would help her do hers. She was the youngest at eight and I remembered trying to shine mine at her age so smiled and opened my arms for a big hug and kiss. Then I held the shoes while she tried to apply the polish, getting more on me than on the leather. Still, we were done about half an hour later. After checking the clock and thoroughly washing my hands I decided it was a good time to lay out my clothes for tonight. I decided on the blue blazer/grey slacks look because had no idea what Barbara had to wear. Based on what she had told me I doubted that her finances were anything like mine.

My first investment was about 13,500 shares of IBM which I had bought at just under five dollars a share back when was eight thanks to one of my famous flashes. Since then the stock had split three times, once at three to one and the price was now up to almost fifty a share. I always reinvested the dividends so I now had more than 100,000 shares. Figure it out-fifty times 100,000 is about five million dollars-and that was only one of my Investments. I had also done very well with AT&T and Standard Oil of Ohio, known as ESSO in those days, among others. Of course, I'd had to pay taxes on those earnings, but my net worth was just under eight million and I knew that there was almost always a track open nearby where I could pick up a few thousand more.

I was dressed and ready to go by 4:00. Checking my wallet one

last time, I kissed my parents and my sisters good-bye and a few minutes later I was driving down the block, narrowly avoiding a collision with some Idiot who had backed out of his driveway without even looking. There wasn't much traffic on our street, but there was some and there were a few dozen kids living there so it paid to be cautious

I was about ten minutes early when pulled into the curb near Barbara's apartment. She had told me that she'd be ready early so I rang the bell hoping that she was. As before, Mrs. Gleason answered the door and asked me into to the apartment where I shook hands with Mr. Gleason and we spoke for a moment before Barbara stepped out from her room. She asked, "Do I look okay?"

She was stunning in a fashionable, but modest dark green dress that ended just below her knees. There was a scoop neck that exposed only a small amount of her cleavage and the dress had short puff sleeves that ended half-way to her elbows. "You look sensational...just perfect." I helped her with her coat and we were in the car for the short ride to the train station a minute later. I found a parking spot up near the station fairly easily. During the work week these spots would be in short supply, but at almost 5:00 on a Saturday afternoon the station was virtually deserted.

I bought tickets in the terminal and we retired to a bench on the platform for a short wait. Ten minutes later the train pulled into the station and twenty minutes after that we stepped out of Grand Central Station onto 42nd Street. There were always plenty of cabs around the terminal so we had no difficulty finding one to Keens Steakhouse. It had been around forever and had always been one of the city's great restaurants. I had made a reservation for 5:30 which would give us plenty of time to eat and take the short trip to the theater less than a dozen blocks away.

Barbara's eyes were the size of quarters when she saw the prices so I leaned across the table to whisper, "I've eaten here before so I know what the prices are. Please don't worry about then. Let's just relax and enjoy ourselves. Okay?" I took her hand in mine and kissed it gently then I told her what had planned to order. Our waiter appeared a minute later and I explained that we had to be out by 7:00 at the latest for the theater. I knew we would be. They did this kind of thing every day.

The meal was everything I had hoped-delicious salads, filets medium rare, and fries. We skipped dessert. Frankly, we'd both had too much to eat. We had the restaurant phone for a cab and ten minutes later we stepped up to the Will Call window. had my identification in the form of my passport so I led Barbara into the

theater. "Let's check our coats. We'll be much more comfortable theater. "Let's check our coats. We'll be much more comfortable Inside without them."

We had just taken our seats when Barbara took my hand. "I'm so excited, Jack. I've never been to a Broadway play before."

"I think we picked a good one. Everything I've heard about the show is great. Maybe next time we'll take in "Irma."

The woman sitting next to her had overheard our comments. "I wasn't prying, but I did overhear you talking about seeing Irma la Douce. My theater club saw it last month. It was fantastic. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard."

We thanked her and turned toward the stage. Barbara whispered, "Thank you so much for this, Jack. Feel my heart. It's going a mile a minute.

Then she took my hand and placed it over her heart. She held it there for several minutes before she realized that my huge hand was almost exactly covering her left breast. She gasped suddenly and pushed my hand away, her face turning dark red. "I don't know what was thinking. I'm so sorry."

I moved my lips up close to her ear so only she would hear my words. "Don't apologize. I'm not sorry at all." Then leaned forward the final inch to gently kiss her shapely ear. It must have tickled because she began to giggle. I kissed her cheek and turned again to the stage. The orchestra was just entering the pit and several had begun tuning and warming up. Barbara looped her arm in mine as we waited for the overture to begin.

The show was everything it was supposed to be-the music, the singing, the dancing. The audience showed its appreciation with a standing ovation at the end with Barbara and me leading the way. We took our time exiting the theater, waiting patiently at the end of the line for the coat check room. I tipped the woman who gave us our coats and helped Barbara into hers before donning mine. The sidewalk in front of the theater was relatively deserted when we finally walked out. I'd been to the theater before and I knew how hectic the crowd would be with everyone trying for a cab or rushing to the subway. Now I stepped to the curb, raising my arm In signal. Five minutes later a cab stopped and helped Barbara in. "Grand Central," told the driver. The tab was only six dollars so I gave him a ten and helped Barbara out. I checked for the correct track on the schedule board and we hurried to the train, arriving

only a few minutes before it left.