The Summer that Changed Everything

Chapter 7: It's the Thought that Counts

      Lennie and I walked side by side for a while. She wasn't really that talkative. I asked her about her slumber party and whether she was still mad about what we did. She shrugged her shoulders.
"You didn't seem like you were enjoying yourself much anyway." I said.
"I wasn't. I hate all those girls. They were nasty and rude to me and made fun of me behind my back." Lennie said.
"Then why did you invite them?" I asked her.
"I didn't want to, Gordie. It was Ace's mom's idea. And don't think that I didn't invite you on purpose. I was going to. It was just going to be us but my "step mom" thought that I should have girls my age... and technically to her boys shouldn't be invited to slumber parties." Lennie explained.
"Your step mom is a bitch." I told her.
"Well, at least we know where Ace gets it from." Lennie suggested.
"I guess." I said.

Teddy, Vern, and Chris trotted down the track... singing some tunes from my portable radio—the song The Mystery Train by Elvis Presley was playing. Chris slid backwards towards us and started singing in Lennie's face now. "Train I ride, sixteen coaches long-Train I ride, sixteen coaches long. Train train, comin' 'round, 'round the bend. Well it took my baby, but it never will again (no, not again.)"
"Don't quit your day job." She told Chris.
"Hey..." Chris danced around her. "I'm gonna be a singing sensation. Just you wait, Len. You are gonna pay to see all my shows."
"Yeah." Teddy agreed. "You'll be a groupie."
"Sure thing. Well, I'm having another party. This time I am inviting who I want." She changed the subject.
"Good." Chris said.
"There's only one condition." Lennie said.
"What's that?" I asked her.
"I want to get drunk." Lennie told us.
Chris and I both laughed together.
"Are you serious?" I asked.
"Yes." She said. "Haven't you ever thought about it?"
"Sure. I just never thought you thought about it." I told her.
"I guess that came as a surprise, Gordie." She said.
"Pretty much." Chris nodded.
"Have either one of you ever tried it?" She asked us.
"I have." Teddy said.
We all looked at him.
"Really?" I asked him not that I was too surprised. This was Teddy we were talking about.
"Yeah. My old man kept lots of beer in his fridge and coolers around the house. He was usually too drunk sometimes to notice 1 or 2 that were missing. He'd just assume he'd drunken it and forgotten about it."
"I tried it once too." Chris admitted now. "Except my father was pretty keen on what leaves the cabinet, because of my brothers. He actually marks the spot on each bottle, so he'll know if someone took a swag or two. He beat the crap out of me when he found out, so you can guess I never tried to sneak any from him again. Sometimes I throw one or two back with my brother. I can tolerate him better when he isn't sober."
"The only thing my dad beat me for was for eating bleach under the kitchen sink." I said.
"Gordie, you rebel." Chris told me.
"Well, at my b-day party you all have my permission to get very drunk." Lennie said.
"And you gonna have cake too?" Vern asked.
"Of course. I'm baking it." Lennie told Vern.
Beer and cake. It sounded like a party too me.

We decided to go to Vern's house for the party. He was being watched by his grandmother. She fell asleep out on the porch all the time. Vern had beer that his brother Billy got from a party that Eyeball was throwing. We had bottles of scotch, bud light, tequila, jack Daniels, Whiskey you name it. It was an alcoholic's paradise. Lennie brought her cake. Chris brought playing cards and cigarettes. I brought some marshmallows to toast outside in the backyard and my portable radio. I couldn't help to think about the time we camped out last summer and how Chris kept telling Vern to turn his marshmallow over because it was gonna fall off and he kept insisting that that was how he liked to do it and then it fell and we laughed at him. And then I remembered how there was nothing like having a smoke after a meal and how Chris found it amusing that Teddy would say "he cherished these moments,"— because it just sounded so corny.

"It's a shame what happened to Ray." Lennie signed.
"Yeah." I agreed.
She wanted to go the place where we found Ray Brower and put something down for him to say that we were there—a respect sort of thing. She was a bit more religious than us. But I understood the meaning behind it.
"I'll take you there sometime." I told her.
"I'd like to go again." Vern said.
"Me too." Teddy nodded.
"We should all go." Chris decided. "And pay respect like Lennie said."
"I dream about Ray sometimes. He's alive in the dream. Well, for a little while. He talks to me about things, like how we talk, you know? Normal stuff. And just before I wake up, he dies." I tell them.
"Does he get hit?" Teddy asked me.
"No—he just lies down on his back—like he's gonna go to sleep. He has no keds on. The part I remembered the most is how hail starts to fall down into his open eyes."
"Weird." Teddy said.
"I would freak if I had a dream like that, Gordie." Vern said
"You want to hear a funny story, Lennie?" Teddy asked.
"Sure." Lennie said.
"Gordie. Tell Lennie about the ultimate train dodge." Teddy said.
"Oh guys. Come on." Vern whined.
"Come on Verno. This is priceless. Don't be a pussy." Teddy told Vern.
"Fine. Fine." Vern said.
"Go on, Gordo." Teddy insisted. "I love the way you tell stories!"
So I started to tell the story how we approached this bridge and no one wanted to cross it expect for Teddy, because he thought it was crazy to walk five miles down the river, when Chris suggested to do down to the route-136 bridge. If we did that, it could take till dark. Crossing the bridge would be quicker. Vern said that if a train came there would be nowhere to go and Chris told him it was a 100 feet.
"Okay. You guys can go round if you want. I'm crossing here. And while you guys are dragging your candy-asses half way across the state and back I'll be waiting for you on the other side, relaxing with my thoughts." Teddy says.
"You use your left hand or your right hand for that?" I asked.
"You wish." Teddy returned back with.
Teddy started to cross the bridge. We felt that we had no choice but to follow him. Vern was crawling. I wasn't too far behind him. Teddy and Chris were ahead of us. The comb Vern brought with him fell out of his pocket and into the water.
"I lost the comb." Vern looked upset.
"Forget it, Vern." I said. I placed my hand on the steel, trying to feel if a train was coming. Suddenly I felt the hot medal as it vibrated underneath my hand. I jumped up and screamed. It was as almost as if everything was in slow motion. "Traiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" I screamed.
"Oh shit." Vern looked like he is about to crap himself. He started to crawl along the tracks faster. I get behind him and lift him up and make him run. At one point we had to jump to the side, because the train would have hit us, but we landed in this thick mound of dirt.
Chris laughed now remembering it as he toasted his marshmallow.
"Hey, at least now we knew when the next train was due." Chris said.
"Yeah." I said back to Chris.
"Lennie. I just want you to know, that I was not scared for a moment during any of this. They exaggerated." Vern told her.
"Don't bullshit her, Vern. You were bawling." Teddy told him.
"I never bawled!" Vern exclaimed.
"Yeah, ok" Teddy shook his head and took a puff of his cigarette. After that he was showing us how to do Tequila shots with salt and lime. I could feel the alcohol warming my blood. It was such a great feeling. We lay there on our backs looking up at the stars and talked about nothing really important at all—it was wonderful.
"Hey, Lennie... there's a million dollar question going around." Chris told her as he propped himself on his hand.
"What is it?" She asked propping herself on her elbow.
"Mickey's a mouse. Donald's a duck. Pluto's a dog. What's Goofy?" Chris asked her.
"That's a dumb question. He's a dog." She said with no thought.
"Ok...so Pluto is a dog too." I contradicted her. "But he doesn't drive a car or wear a hat or talk."
"Well, Goofy is an educated dog." She decided. "He went to a good school."
"Good one, Len." Chris chuckled.
"Yeah I buy that." Vern agreed.
Chris started poking the fire with a stick. He looked back at Vern's grandmother. She was sitting in the rocking chair swing on the porch. Her glasses were slid half way down her face and she snored like a bear. We all sort of chuckled to ourselves.

"Hey, I almost forgot." I started. I get up and start rummaging through my sleeping bag. I come back and sit next to my cousin. "Here, Lennie. This is from all of us."
"Guys you really didn't have to get me anything." She said.
"We all chipped in." I emphasized.
"We did?" Chris looked at me questionably.
"Yeah... don't you remember? I picked it up the other day." I told him.
"Oh. Oh. Yeah. I remember now, Gordie. It must have slipped my mind. Too many shots tonight. Sorry." Chris crossed his arms over his knees. "So go and open it up, Len." Chris suggested.
It was a Buddy Holly record.
"Oh wow. Guys this is so awesome. Thanks. This is a record that my mom used to play for me and Gordie when he used to come over. The old record broke. How did you know, Gordie?" She asked.
"You told me once in a letter." I said.
"Oh yeah. Man I wish I could play it now. Thanks guys. This means a lot." She went around and hugged all of us. "Thanks Chris." She threw her arms around him.
Chris smiled and hugged her back.
"I'm glad you like it." Chris said.

We all were pretty sick the next day. Well, I mean... not, sick sick, but just tired, sluggish, immense headache? You kind of feel like those night creatures that can't go into the sunlight. Vampires. Sometimes I look at Ace Merrill and I think he could be a leader of some gang of vampires that roamed the street at night looking for innocent victims. Still we could pretty much function like normal people. Vern on the other hand threw up pretty much all morning.
"Uhhh uhhh. Man. I am never drinking ever again." Vern said.

We threw out all the evidence before Vern's grandmother saw and told her that he ate a whole cake when she questioned why he was so sick. She didn't put it past him.
I walked Lennie home. She was still so excited about the record and couldn't wait to play it. Teddy was walking with us for a while but then he said that he had to go home to take a whiz and visit "The Jack."
"Don't you mean the John?" I asked.
"To you it's John. But when you have been drinking the shit as long as I have, it'll be known as Jack, like in Jack Daniels. Later." He said.
Chris and I walked together for a while.
"Gordie, I want you to know— you didn't have to include me because I didn't have money to chip in for the gift." Chris said.
"It's alright." I said.
"I wish that I wasn't so goddam poor." Chris said.
"Stop it. You're not that bad off." I told him.
"Yeah." He said sarcastically. "Ok."
"Chris... Neither of us are the Rockefellers—" I explained. "It was no big deal."
"It doesn't matter. I shouldn't get credit for a gift I didn't contribute for. But the fact of the matter is that you didn't even bother to ask me. I guess it was to spare my feelings because you knew the answer would have been that I didn't have it?"
I didn't know what to say.
"Chris... " I felt choked up inside. "Chris. I'm really sorry. I didn't think of it. I- -I. I- -I picked it up at the last minute with Vern and Teddy when we took a walk to the market. You were at the doctor's with your mom."
Chris was quiet. He stared out far into the horizon.
"I'm really sorry, Chris." I said again.
"I would have chipped in, if I had it." Chris took a deep breath and looked back at me.
"I know." I said. "I know."
Chris smiled.
"Lennie really loved it, didn't she?" Chris asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"I bet she is singing along to it right now." Chris said.
"Yeah."
"Well, all that matters is that she is happy." He said. "Come on... let's go." Chris put his arm around my shoulder and we walked off.