The Freak - S01 E05

2 months ago

The Freak - S01 E05

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 5

only a few minutes before it left.

We sat back in the seat as Barbara snuggled in close to my body, her head on my shoulder. "I had such a wonderful time tonight, Jack, last night, too." She reached up to kiss me, but it was only a quick one. The train was hardly the place for a hot make-out session.

We pulled into the Pelham station at 11:42. took her hand and led her to the car. A minute later she asked if there are any submarine races on schedule tonight. "I think there are scheduled races every night of the year," I replied with a chuckle. "You just have to find the right place. We need one here in Pelham so we don't have to drive all the way to Chester Heights and back."

"I agree," she said with a sly grin. "We could miss half of the races." I laughed as I turned left away from her apartment to the village's small independent movie theater. As I expected their parking lot was almost empty. backed into a slot in the back row and stopped the car, leaving the radio set to 1010 WINS for Murray the K. For some reason he had a sub working so I changed to 770 AM -WABC and Cousin Brucie. Barbara slid across the seat and into my arms.

With some of the other girls I've dated I'd have my hands all over her tits or even up her skirt, but knew something about Barbara that I wasn't quite ready to reveal. I had told Barbara on the phone about how I knew that she was going to fall and be severely injured. I called what happened to me a "flash." It was as though a snippet of film-a coming attraction, if you will-had been shown in my brain. That film showed her falling on the slippery concrete. It wasn't long, only about two or three seconds, but it was enough.

There had also been a second flash, this one longer. It showed two elderly people with matching wedding bands, me with white hair and the woman I knew was Barbara with gray. We were obviously in a hospital room and I could tell that Barbara was seriously III. I'd had any number of girlfriends before Barbara, but she was going to be my last, if only I didn't fuck it up.

She must have been a smart person because she learned how to kiss really quickly after last night's brief lesson. All I knew was that I wanted to kiss her for the rest of my life. All told we shared only three kisses over the next half hour with but a few seconds between, mostly to laughingly wipe the spit from our faces. At one point she opened my glove box looking for a napkin or paper towel, finding instead a small box with the word "Trojan" on the side.

"What's this, Jack?"

"Those are condoms."

"Oh...I've heard some of the giris talking about them, but I've never seen one and I'm not sure how they work."

"Open the box and take one out if you wish." She pulled one of the foll-wrapped packets from the box.

"What do you do with this?" I knew they didn't teach contraception in a Catholic girls' school so thought I'd have to tell her.

"Open the packet." Once she had the condom in her hand I told her to unroll it down her finger.

"This is much bigger than my finger."

I couldn't help myself. I laughed my ass off. "Thank God for that!" was practically choking.

"I don't understand, Jack. Won't you explain it for me?"

I took a couple of deep breaths. "It's not for your finger. It's for my

penis. Do they have sex education in your school?" Barbara gave

me a look that asked if was crazy. "I didn't think so, and even if

they did I doubt that there would be any discussion of

contraception. took the latex sheath from her hand and held it up

for her to see. "When a couple decides that they want to have

sexual relations there are changes that occur to their bodies. I'm

sure you know that the man's penis becomes erect-an erection-

to enable penetration and the woman's vagina becomes lubricated

to make that penetration easier. The Church has declared that

contraception is a sin which is a totally ridiculous concept. What

we need in the world are more children who are unwanted by their

parents or whose parents can't afford to clothe or feed them.

"Condoms are also used to prevent venereal diseases although they're not perfect. They are, however, a big help in both regards."

"Were you planning on using these with me?"

"No...you're not my first girlfriend. I've had those for a while. You'd be amazed at how many girls practically throw themselves at me. Last year we played an away game at Rye Neck. I went outside the gym for a drink of water and two girls gave me their phone numbers, promising me that they'd take the very best care of me- both of them at the same time."

"Did you call them?"

No. I dumped the paper with their numbers into the trash as soon as I walked back inside. Having sex with someone who would throw themselves at a total stranger just because he can play basketball could be dangerous, not to mention stupid. The last thing I need is some sexually transmitted disease like gonorrhea or syphilis."

"So, I guess that means you don't think I'm sexy." I almost laughed because her teasing was so obvious.

"Yeah," replied. "I always make it a practice to date women who are ugly fat slobs."

"Oh, shut up and kiss me." I dropped the condom into the plastic bag I kept in the car for trash and wrapped her into my arms as our lips met again. I started the car at 12:35 to drive the two miles or so to her apartment. I pulled to the curb about a hundred feet from her door. We walked together, my arm around her until we reached the entrance. The last thing we did after kissing for more than a minute was to make arrangements to attend Mass together later this morning. I watched her climb the stairs and open the apartment door before walking back to the car. Fifteen minutes later I was home and in bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

I had a bit of a surprise when I woke up so I phoned Barbara to ask her about it. She agreed immediately that I should bring my little sister-eight year-old Carole-to Mass with us. I sat her in the back seat as I drove into Pelham. Carole held my hand as we walked to the apartment and went up the stairs. I introduced her to the Gleason's as we waited for Barbara. Carole ran to her for a hug then we were on our way to the church only a mile away.

Once I had parked Carole walked between us holding both of our hands. Looking at Barbara she asked, "Do you hold hands with J.J, Barbara?"

"Yes, I do, Carole. Is that okay with you?"

"I suppose so, but why do you want to hold his hand?"

"Why do you do it, Carole?"

"I want to be safe. J.J. is big. People driving cars can see him and sometimes he stops me from falling."

"Did you know that he did that with me, too? That's how we met. I would have been badly hurt if my head hit the sidewalk."

Carole was obviously thinking as we approached St. Catharine's. "Barbara, do you like my brother?"

Barbara stopped and knelt to face Carole then spoke calmly and quietly so just Carole and could hear. "Yes, I do. I like him very much." Then she hugged Carole and took my other hand. Together we climbed the steps into the church. We sat on the aisle near the back. Mass began on time and passed as slowly as always. I attended because it was something my mother and now Barbara expected me to do. My mind often wandered and had another flash that told me a lot about my future relationship with Barbara. She took Carole with her for communion while I remained in the pew. A few minutes later we walked out into the sunny day and that was when received my best surprise of the morning. My dad was there to take Carole home.

We were in my car when laughed. "Thank you, Dad!"

"Jack, that's a horrible thing to say."

"Don't get me wrong. I love my sister. We have a bungalow out on Long Island and we don't have enough bedrooms so Carole sleeps In what used to be strictly mine. She wakes up really early every morning and stands next to the bed until I wake up and let her climb in with me. Obviously, that won't continue much longer, but she's done it every morning since she was three and always welcome her. She snuggles up to me and we go right back to sleep until we wake up again around eight or so. However, having her with us, even on a date to attend Mass...well, let's just say that I much prefer having you all to myself."

"Do you really want me all to yourself?"

I smiled then leaned over to kiss her. It was just a short one before I answered her question. "What do you think?" Barbara laughed then kissed me again. "Want to know what Carole asked me on our drive over? She wanted to know if had ever kissed you."

"What did you tell her?"

"I would never lie to her so I told her that I did it as often as possible. Then I showed her by kissing her again. Finally, I started the car and drove us to the diner where we enjoyed another great breakfast although she did laugh when told her was going to play basketball this afternoon.

"Don't you get enough of that during the week?"

"No, I usually play seven days a week. The gym is open for recreation Saturday and Sunday from two to four. All the guys on the team go to play and so do a lot of others. Some of the games are really intense, but we do look at the big picture-winning another state championship-so we try to make sure that nobody gets hurt. Mostly, it's a lot of fun."

"It's hard for me to relate. We don't have anything like that at my school."

"I'm not knocking private schools, but there are a lot of things that we have that you don't. For one thing, all of our teachers have to be certified by the state. I don't know about a high school, but do know that there are teachers in some parochial elementary schools who have never even attended college, let alone leamed how to teach. On the other hand, I've had a few teachers who I think would be better off selling Insurance than teaching. Of course, you have God and religion which we're not supposed to have and you don't have the distraction of kids making out in the hallways-at least hope not-and hope you don't have to worry about your students getting pregnant like two of my classmates did this year. I guess that every school has its pros and cons."

"You're probably right. I know that there are things I love and things I can't stand about my school although you'd be wrong about the pregnancies. We weren't told anything, but one of my classmates just stopped coming to school even though we knew that the family didn't move. When do you play again?"

"Tuesday afternoon, we usually play every Tuesday and Friday unless there's a holiday. I'll phone you Tuesday night, okay? But you have to tell me if you have homework. I don't want to mess up school for you."

I promise that I'll tell you, but I usually read on the bus so I get a lot of my work done before dinner." I found it amazing that Barbara and I could speak so easily to each other and that we were so comfortable in each other's presence. I checked my watch and saw that we had plenty of time. The only question was-did we want to spend it in the diner or in my car. Barbara solved that

question for me by standing. I paid and a minute later we were in

my car, but where to go? Then I had the answer.