The Freak - S01 E33

2 months ago

The Freak - S01 E33

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 33

Introduction:

The story of our life together.

If you've made if this far you must like the story so I thank you for your time and your patience. This is a story that grew a life of its own once started to write it. I had the idea a few years ago, but had trouble developing it into my brain. In fact, I started to write it more than a year ago, but stopped to write "My Old Fashioned Girl" and "Driving Miss Daisy." Only when these were completed was my brain able to piece it together. Again, thanks for reading. Sr. Longo

THE FREAK-Part 33- The Conclusion

If there's one lesson I've learned from my dad's business it's that there are always delays. I wasn't surprised that what we hoped would be done in a week actually took almost two to complete. Twice we had to delay furniture deliveries, but, by the second week in July we were actually able to sleep in our newly renovated home. Our driveway was ready to use and we'd added a space for me to park the jeep alongside the garage. The rear yard had been fenced and our furniture was delivered and installed. There were other things we wanted to do, but they could wait. New appliances in the kitchen and new paint on the ceilings, walls, and trim were the biggest items.

We loved the new refinished floors with their almost-white maple finish, but we also wanted area rugs for color and quiet. Finding what we wanted turned out to be a breeze. Installing them was not so easy, but we managed to get it done with the help of a few neighbors.

At first they were hesitant at the idea of having two teenagers living in their midst. However, a major thaw occurred at an afternoon party one neighbor had, supposedly to welcome us, but in reality to check us out. There was a keg and everyone helped themselves to plenty of beer-everyone except Barbara and me. When asked we simply explained that we weren't drinkers. We were serious students and I was a serious athlete. We weren't into parties although we might invite a few friends to visit-but only a few.

Of course, we were asked why we were married at such a young age so I asked if they had ever heard about St. Claudia's School in Yonkers. Apparently, they had because the conversation went from a dull roar to dead quiet in a second. One neighbor commented

that he never did believe those allegations and he continued his 10:05 p..

comments until I excused myself so I could walk home, returning a few minutes later with the photos of Barbara's back. "Take a good look and tell me how this happened. These marks weren't self- Inflicted. Barbara lived through this hell and worked with the police to get them to admit their roles in the actual whipping and the cover-up conspiracy. They couldn't wait to brag about how they had beaten girls just to keep the others under control. And then there was the theft of girls' jewelry like Barbara's engagement ring

that cost me more than $2500."

Then one of the wonen opened the envelope and when she looked at the first photo she fell to her knees, throwing up all of the beer she had consumed. Everyone stood stock still, shocked by what had happened, except me. I took three quick steps to help the woman who I barely knew to her feet, wiping her face with cold water from the ice-filled tub holding the keg. Her husband picked up the photos and returned them to the envelope. "You have to understand, we're all Catholic. It was hard for us to believe. The priests all said it was a bunch of lies."

"We do understand. It would have been hard for us to believe, too, except that we lived it. I married Barbara then so she could attend school with me. There was no way in hell that I would allow her to return to school there. Barbara's an orphan. Her foster parents didn't believe until they saw the photos either. They would have forced her to go back into that hellhole of a school. Would you want your wife to have to deal with something like that? I don't think so. You also know why we're Lutherans now."

I was ready to leave and I would have had two of the women not asked us to stay. "It's obvious that we all made a serious error of judgment. We hope you'll forgive us." Of course, we did. We stayed at the party and had a good time, but the photo envelope remained closed and the conversation never touched that subject again.

When asked about our new fence I explained that planned to play both basketball and baseball at Harvard and that meant that I would be away for several nights during the season. didn't want Barbara to be here alone. The choices for her protection were either a gun or a dog. The dog won. That led to a discussion of my athletic abilities. I said nothing

about them. I didn't have to. Barbara was gushing, and the men

joined her as soon as she said the words "All-American."

There are lots of animal shelters in the greater Boston area and we

visited several during the following week before finding what we

wanted a female lab mix about a year old. This one had come

from a home in which an elderly widow had passed away leaving the dog to be taken into the shelter. Her name was Kelly and she bonded almost immediately with Barbara, licking her hands and wagging her tail wildly. She was already more than forty pounds and she still had a long way to go. We took her to a vet to have her checked out and spayed then she became an integral part of our family.

We had almost everything other than painting done by the third week in July so I mentioned to Barbara that needed a workout at the Harvard gym. "I need to shoot once in a while to keep my skills sharp. Want to come and rebound for me?" Barbara bared her teeth and flexed her biceps as she agreed. I grabbed my ball and dressed a practice shirt, shorts and jock with a towel, socks and sneakers and head and wrist bands in my gym bag along with a tee, briefs, and shorts in case I could find a shower. We put Kelly out as we always did whenever we left the house and locked up once she was back in. We took the Jeep and fifteen minutes later we were parked and walking to the admissions office. I would have gone directly to the gym if only I had known where to go. Harvard Is a big place and it's spread out in various areas of Cambridge.

We spoke to Mrs. Atkins who told us to go to the Stadium to see the Athletic Director. She produced another map and circled the location. It wasn't far so ten minutes later we walked into the office. I saw the secretary so Barbara and walked up to the desk. "Hi, I'm Jack French."

"Who?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "You know could have gone to Notre Dame or Stanford and kind of suspect they'd know who am, but I guess not at Harvard."

Just then a silver-haired man who looked fit in spite of his age walked out from the inner office. "You're Jack French? Great to meet you, Ignore Irene, she's a great secretary, but she doesn't know much about sports." That's how I met the Athletic Director. I Introduced him to Barbara then he led us into his office.

I explained why we were here, asking about getting my ankles taped, too. He volunteered to show us where to go, saying that there were trainers working in the stadium now because some of the football players were working out on the field during the summer. He also suggested that I use the Hemenway Gym if I wanted to work out. It was only a few minutes before he had teeth and flexed her biceps as she agreed. I grabbed my ball and dressed a practice shirt, shorts and jock with a towel, socks and sneakers and head and wrist bands in my gym bag along with a tee, briefs, and shorts in case I could find a shower. We put Kelly out as we always did whenever we left the house and locked up once she was back in. We took the Jeep and fifteen minutes later we were parked and walking to the admissions office, I would have gone directly to the gym if only had known where to go. Harvard Is a big place and it's spread out in various areas of Cambridge.

"Who?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "You know could have gone to Notre Dame or Stanford and kind of suspect they'd know who I am, but I guess not at Harvard."

I explained why we were here, asking about getting my ankles taped, too. He volunteered to show us where to go, saying that there were trainers working in the stadium now because some of the football players were working out on the field during the summer. He also suggested that I use the Hemenway Gym if I wanted to work out. It was only a few minutes before he had walked us into the trainers' room adjacent to the men's locker room. I wasn't surprised to see two trainers working there-one male and one female. He Introduced me and told them to tape me or provide whatever services I needed whenever asked. After shaking hands he was gone and I climbed onto a padded table. They taped me exactly the way I wanted, and much tighter than I could do on my own. Megan, the female trainer showed us a shorter way to the parking lot and I followed the directions to the gym on what the locals called "Mass Ave."

There were four guys playing two-on-two at one end of the court

so led Barbara to the opposite end. I did some stretching

exercises to loosen up then I started with some layups and short

shots, rebounding any misses or just tipping them in. After almost ten minutes I started to shoot from farther out with Barbara catching the balls that went through the net and passing them out to me.