![](\"https:\/\/images.dailykos.com\/images\/1157993\/large\/BloodyMarywithcelery.jpeg?1675374829\")
I woke up to the wind blowing against the window by my bed. It felt cold like that wind was getting inside too. My bed was now on top of David\u2019s because they were \u201cbunk beds\u201d. I looked over the edge and David\u2019s bed was empty, he was already up. He usually got up before I did.<\/p>\n
When David was too big to sleep in the crib anymore dad went up into the attic and brought down all the parts for the other bed like mine. Our room was too small for both beds to be on the floor so dad had to hook mine on top of David\u2019s. Mom was worried I wouldn\u2019t like climbing up to my bed, but I liked it, I liked it A LOT. It felt like I was in a different place, like a submarine or a spaceship, and David couldn\u2019t get up there to bother me.<\/p>\n
I knew today was my birthday and was also supposed to be my birthday party out in the park. But mom and dad had been worried about it yesterday, because the \u201cweather report\u201d on the TV said it would be really cold and windy today. Mom got mad at dad when he said that we could tell everyone to dress for the cold weather and have lots of hot coffee for the grownups, and the kids wouldn\u2019t care as long as it wasn\u2019t raining.<\/p>\n
Mom had used her fierce voice. She said, \u201cEric. There is no way in hell that we can ask people to shiver outside on picnic tables in the park with the cold wind howling, no matter how much damn hot coffee we serve!\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad said we could do it in the house but mom didn\u2019t like that either. She said she didn\u2019t want to have people come to our house because we didn\u2019t have any furniture in the living room and that was \u201cembarrassing\u201d. Dad said maybe we could call Molly\u2019s mom and see if we could do the party at their house. Mom said even if Molly\u2019s mom would do it, it would be really hard to let everyone know, and what about the kids who were planning to walk to the party without their parents. How would they get to Molly\u2019s house?<\/p>\n
They had talked about it for a long time. Dad kept saying it would be okay, but mom kept thinking about something else she was worried about. Mom would get mad about something, and she\u2019d say what was making her mad. But once she said it, she\u2019d feel better. Dad never got mad, but he would ask about things that would make mom mad again.<\/p>\n
Finally mom had put her hands behind her head, looked up at the ceiling, blew out air and said, \u201cOkay! We\u2019ll have the party in the house and we\u2019ll make it work somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n
They talked about it some more and I talked about it too. I said that all the kids could play in the basement, and they thought that was a good idea. Mom said that Molly\u2019s mom said that they should have a \u201ccocktail party\u201d upstairs in the living room and kitchen and mom said she would make and give people \u201cfinger food\u201d, whatever that was, which they wouldn\u2019t need to sit down at a table to eat, or even need plates.<\/p>\n
I sat up in bed and saw mom standing in the doorway of my room. It was David\u2019s room too, but I still called it my room, because I was here before David was so I was in charge of it. Mom had a blue baseball cap on, but it didn\u2019t have an \u201cM\u201d on the front for the Michigan team. It had a white \u201cN\u201d and a \u201cY\u201d right on top of each other. She\u2019d told me that was for the Yankees, her favorite baseball team. She had a yellow pencil sticking out from the top of her ear and this kind of really small book thing in her hand with lots of small pieces of paper in it that she would look at and write on.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh good\u201d, she said, \u201cYou\u2019re up.\u201d Then making a big smile, \u201cHappy birthday, sweetie!\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled too and nodded. I was excited that all the kids for the party would come to our house and play in the basement with me. She touched the tip of her thumb to the tip of her tongue and flipped a piece of paper in her tiny book thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need you to get your clothes on and go down in the basement. Your dad\u2019s job is to clean the whole house while I prep for the party. He was up early and swept and mopped the basement floor and it\u2019s pretty much dry now. Your job is to play with your brother in the basement so he won\u2019t be pestering your dad and I while we get all our jobs done upstairs for the party.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t nod or say anything. I used to like playing with my brother when he liked everything that I did, and played with stuff the way I was playing with it. Now he liked to play with the toys sometimes his own way, which messed up how I was playing with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know he makes you mad sometimes nowadays\u201d, she said, \u201cBut I need you to figure that out and be basically his babysitter this morning, like Margie does when she comes over and babysits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the way\u201d, she said, opening her eyes wide, \u201cMargie said she\u2019s coming to the party, as a guest this time, and will even bring her record player and records so we can have some music!\u201d I liked Margie, because she was a lot older and knew a lot, but she was still a kid like me and not a grownup.<\/p>\n
Mom put one hand on her stomach and held the other one out and pretended she was dancing. She looked at me smiling and said, \u201cShe even has some Sinatra records. Maybe I can get you to dance with me!\u201d I shook my head.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour loss, kiddo\u201d, she said as she went back into the kitchen.<\/p>\n
So I put my clothes on then made my own Cheerios and milk in the kitchen before I went downstairs. Mom had two big pots on the stove with steam coming out of them and that celery stuff on a wood board that she was cutting up into pieces.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m making deviled eggs, Coolie\u201d, she said smiling and holding a giant wooden spoon, \u201cAnd pigs in a blanket. Also celery sticks with peanut butter for the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
Down in the basement David was playing with the Godzilla we got from Margie for Christmas. My brother liked to wreck things, so he liked Godzilla A LOT. He had figured out how to say, \u201cOh no, Gozilla!\u201d, and then he\u2019d make roaring noises. When he saw me come down the stairs he said to me, \u201cMake some big!\u201d That is, someTHING big so Godzilla could wreck it I figured.<\/p>\n
When dad finished cleaning the upstairs he went out to the grocery store. When he came back I could hear mom in the kitchen getting mad at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cEric\u201d, she said, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you get the brand of tomato juice I told you to get? Were they out?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo they had it Liz, but this was a lot cheaper\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDammit\u201d, she said, \u201cI know that brand of tomato juice makes for a delicious thick creamy Bloody Mary. That\u2019s why I SPECIFICALLY asked you to buy it. This off-brand stuff, who knows! The cheap vodka is fine, vodka is vodka.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJeez Liz\u201d, dad said, sounding mad now like mom wasn\u2019t being fair, \u201cI\u2019m just trying to save us a little money so you won\u2019t be so stressed out paying the bills!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom took a deep breath and kind of blew out her words. \u201cOh Eric, Eric, Eric. I wish for just one damn moment money wasn\u2019t such an issue!\u201d She sighed. \u201cSweetie\u201d, she said to him, \u201cCan I ask you to go back to the A and P and get that brand of tomato juice I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeems like such a waste of time\u201d, dad said, in a low voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease?\u201d mom asked.<\/p>\n
Dad blew air out of HIS mouth but he didn\u2019t say anything. I heard the clinking sound of him grabbing his keys and he went out the side door, banging it closed. I heard the car engine and the tires spinning on the stones in the driveway. I knew he was mad, like that day a long time ago that he spanked me.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Mom said the party was supposed to start after two o\u2019clock. The little hand on the clock on dad\u2019s desk in the basement was not quite at \u201c2\u201d yet when I heard mom open the front door upstairs. I heard Margie\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cHi Missus Zale\u2026 er uh, Jane\u201d, she said, \u201cI don\u2019t get to call many grownups by their first name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom chuckled. \u201cCome in dear\u201d, she said, \u201cand you brought your record player. Thanks so much for doing that!\u201d I ran up the stairs into the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Margie looked at me and said, \u201cHey, big guy! Happy birthday! Got ya a present!\u201d She looked around for some place to put the record player. Mom opened the closet by the front door and took out the card table and waved to me to help her set it up, because she had shown me how. Margie put her record player on it and then reached into a big bag under her shoulder and pulled out a small box wrapped in paper that looked like it had those comics on it from the newspaper.<\/p>\n
\u201cTurns out we didn\u2019t have any wrapping paper\u201d, she said, “So I improvised with the Sunday funnies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHey\u201d, mom said, \u201cThat works nicely.\u201d Then she laughed through her nose and said, \u201cSeems like we\u2019re all doing a lot of improvising these days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you’re not happy having to do the party in the house\u201d, Margie said looking around, \u201cBut it\u2019ll be fine! I\u2019ve watched you at Molly\u2019s birthday parties. You\u2019ll be a champion hostess!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGod I hope so\u201d, mom said, shaking her head and looking around the room with her hands on her hips, \u201cMy friend Lennice was sweet enough to show me how to make pigs in a blanket and deviled eggs, finger food since there\u2019ll be nowhere to sit and eat properly. And I\u2019m serving Bloody Marys, at least for the adults. Kids\u2019ll have they\u2019re own finger food, cut up celery sticks with peanut butter and tater tots, and Kool Aid to drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSounds great Jane\u201d, Margie said, \u201cI LOVE celery and peanut butter!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd since some of the adults won\u2019t know each other\u201d, mom said, \u201cI figure I\u2019ll introduce people to the other people they don\u2019t know, particularly ones who might have something in common they might enjoy talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWow\u201d, said Margie, \u201cThat\u2019s a great idea!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom made a noise like something hurt her and breathed out air. \u201cI should have called Joan and reminded her again to bring her percolator and her big plastic jug for the Kool Aid. Probably too late now to call, she\u2019s probably on her way over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI brought records\u201d, Margie said, touching her fingers on the bag under her shoulder.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh good\u201d, mom said, making her biggest smile, \u201cAny Sinatra?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yeah\u201d, Margie said, \u201cMy folks had some Sinatra albums. But I also brought some records us younger types are listening to. You know, Rock and Roll. Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Elvis, Little Richard. And Motown too. Smokey Robinson, Mary Wells.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cElvis I\u2019ve heard of\u201d, mom said, \u201cI haven\u2019t heard much Rock and Roll, but I like anything you can dance to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yeah?\u201d Margie asked, \u201cThen you\u2019ll love Rock and Roll. It\u2019s all about the beat, and dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, sounds fun\u201d, mom said, clapping her hands together. Then putting on her biggest smile said, \u201cTHANK YOU SO MUCH for bringing your record player and the records. Everyone chipping in makes me not worry so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll set up on the card table in the corner here\u201d, Margie said, \u201cThen I can help you with anything you need help with in the kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re such a sweetheart, dear\u201d, mom said, squeezing Margie\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n
I went to see what dad was doing. He was on his hands and knees cleaning the toilet. He looked up at me and smiled. His head was sweating a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s up Cloob?\u201d he asked. I shook my head. But since he was working so hard I figured I should say something or it wouldn\u2019t be very nice.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargie\u2019s here\u201d, I said, \u201cShe brought her record player and records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood\u201d, he said, stopping working for a minute and wiping his face off with a rag, \u201cYour mom\u2019s just crazy worrying about getting everything just right. I hope that\u2019ll calm her down.\u201d I nodded.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Finally other people started coming to the party. Kids and Grownups.<\/p>\n
Kenny came by himself. He gave me his present and looked around at all the grownups, looking worried. He decided he\u2019d go down into the basement right away, even before I was ready to go down there with him.<\/p>\n
Then Danny came with his mom. He was holding my present and she had these two big \u201ctrays\u201d on top of each other covered with that \u201caluminum foil\u201d stuff.<\/p>\n
She said to mom, \u201cJane, I decided to make a couple trays of stuffed\u2026 stuff, cuz you can never have too much finger food. We\u2019ll need it to soak up the booze. I\u2019ve had your Bloody Marys.\u201d She followed mom into the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Danny handed me my present. It was wrapped but not a box and made kind of crunching noises when I held it. \u201cYou\u2019ll really like these\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
When the little hand got to the two on the clock, Marybeth came with her sister Hannah. She said to mom, \u201cMy grandma says she \u2018sends her apologies\u2019, but sends Cooper her best birthday wishes.\u201d She handed me my present. My brother liked it that Hannah came, and he came over and took her hand and they went down in the basement, though Marybeth stayed upstairs.<\/p>\n
Marybeth laughed and said, \u201cMy little sister likes playing with your little brother, because she gets to be older than he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul came with his mom. His mom said to mom, \u201cWell I figured this was the place to be on a cold Sunday afternoon. My husband Dilly makes his apologies. Yada, yada, yada.\u201d Paul walked over to me and asked, \u201cYou\u2019re six, right?\u201d I nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlad you two could come, Matilda\u201d, mom said, \u201cCoop and Paul are such good buddies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know\u201d, said Paul\u2019s mom, \u201cWish I had as much sway over my son as your son does. My Paul just goes on and on about what Cooper does.\u201d Mom laughed. Paul shook his head like he wasn\u2019t happy she said that and said, \u201cMom!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that you\u2019re here\u201d, mom said to her, \u201cI want to introduce you to Lennice Ladson, Danny\u2019s mom. I think you\u2019ll get a kick out of her. You two have a similar take on things, and she has quite the sense of humor like you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYikes\u201d, said Paul\u2019s mom, \u201cYou mean there\u2019s more than just me thinking they\u2019ve sold all us girls a bill of goods?\u201d Mom nodded and had Paul\u2019s mom go into the kitchen where Danny\u2019s mom was.<\/p>\n
Gabe and Amanda from school came with Gabe\u2019s mom. She said to mom, \u201cWe\u2019ve talked on the phone several times, Jane, but it\u2019s so nice to finally meet you in person. At your suggestion I was able to bring Cooper and Gabe\u2019s classmate Amanda too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom said, \u201cAnd you too, Evelyn, it\u2019s nice to connect a voice with a face.\u201d Then she looked at Gabe and Amanda and said, \u201cAnd it\u2019s such a pleasure to meet two of Cooper\u2019s classmates from school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gabe pushed his lips together and nodded like he thought the same thing, but Amanda asked, \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t your living room have any furniture?\u201d Gabe made a silly face, shook his head, and looked up at the ceiling.<\/p>\n
Mom laughed through her nose just a little bit and said, \u201cWell Amanda, that IS a good question, but I don\u2019t have an easy answer at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMost people have too much furniture\u201d, Amanda said, \u201cSo I don\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom laughed just a little through her nose again and said, \u201cWell it\u2019s a pleasure to meet someone else who speaks her mind.\u201d Amanda nodded like she thought so too and walked over next to me and Gabe.<\/p>\n
Mom said to Gabe\u2019s mom, \u201cCome with me into the kitchen. I\u2019d like you to meet Lennice and Matilda. I\u2019ll warn you they\u2019re both characters. Matilda\u2019s son Paul is also a friend of Coop\u2019s and is in a different class at Bach.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh\u2026 okay\u201d, said Gabe\u2019s mom, like she wasn\u2019t sure and might be a little worried. They went into the kitchen and soon I could hear all four of them talking and laughing.<\/p>\n
There was a knock at the door. There were no grownups left in the living room because everybody\u2019s mom was in the kitchen and dad was still cleaning the bathroom. All the other kids looked at me.<\/p>\n
Amanda said, \u201cWell open the door, it\u2019s your house. I\u2019ll open it if you won\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n
I figured she was right, because at school she almost always was. So I opened the door and it was Dad\u2019s friends Frank and Walter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy birthday!\u201d they both said at the same time. Then that Walter guy held out a wrapped present and said, \u201cWe brought a gift. Can we come in out of the cold?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d, said Gabe, who was behind me, \u201cMaybe we should open it first.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank pointed at Gabe, nodded and said, \u201cGood one! It\u2019s sci-fi books, but if I tell you the titles, Walter would have to kill me.\u201d and then to me, \u201cBut do let us in, or all your other guests in here will freeze. What\u2019s going on with this wintry weather on your birthday? It\u2019s supposed to be April for god\u2019s sake!\u201d<\/p>\n
That Walter guy looked around at all us kids and said, \u201cNo grownups? This party\u2019s getting better all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mom peeked her head out of the kitchen and said, \u201cHello guys, welcome. Eric\u2019s working on some issue with the toilet in the bathroom. C\u2019mon in the kitchen and get yourselves a Bloody Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA drink, yes\u201d, Frank said, and he wagged his finger at Walter and said, \u201cTHAT\u2019S what grownups are good for!\u201d They went into the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Ricky even came, with his mom, but not with his little sister, who was Molly\u2019s friend. He always came to Molly\u2019s parties but never had come to mine before. He handed me my present and said, \u201cNot much to do on a cold Sunday, so I decided to check out your soiree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amanda looked at him and said, \u201cWhat\u2019s a soiree?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ricky made a funny look and said, \u201cAh kids today\u201d, and shook his head. Then he looked around the living room and said, \u201cI just love your furniture!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRicky\u201d, said his mom fiercely, \u201cBehave yourself!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor my esteemed parent, I will hold my tongue\u201d, he said, talking like a grown up, which he always liked to do when he wanted to be silly like grownups were sometimes at parties. But then he opened his mouth and put his fingers on his tongue and looked at all us kids. Some of us laughed, but Amanda said, \u201cGross!\u201d<\/p>\n
Molly finally came with her mom and this other grownup man. Molly was carrying this big plastic round thing, and the man was carrying a big silver round thing. Molly\u2019s mom had a present that she gave to me and said, \u201cFrom Molly.\u201d Mom came out of the kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh Joan, there you are!\u201d mom said, \u201cYou brought the cold-drink jug and the percolator. I was going to call and remind you but I figured it had gotten too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo sorry I\u2019m late\u201d, Molly\u2019s mom said, \u201cWe had a little crisis at home. I\u2019ll tell you about it later. Tell me what I can do to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Molly\u201d, mom said, \u201cIt still seems strange when I don\u2019t see you everyday. And you must be Laurence?\u201d Mom wiped her hands off on her pant legs and stuck out her hand and shook Molly\u2019s mom\u2019s friend\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks for the invitation\u201d, he said, still holding the big round silver thing, \u201cI really appreciate it because I\u2019m new in town. And call me Larry. I\u2019m only Laurence to the people at the university that write my paycheck and hopefully will give me tenure in the not too distant future.\u201d Mom, Molly\u2019s mom and some of the other grownups laughed and nodded, like that made sense though it didn\u2019t to me.<\/p>\n
Mom nodded and held up her finger to Molly\u2019s mom. \u201cCan I get you two to get the coffee going, and then we\u2019ll have a proper conversation so I can hear everything that\u2019s new with you two.\u201d Then she looked at Molly, \u201cMolly, the kool-aid jug goes on the folding chair on the landing by the side door. We\u2019ll get that filled in just a minute.<\/p>\n
Then there was one more ring of the doorbell. I went and opened the door. I was surprised that it was my teacher and another woman.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d I asked. The other woman laughed.<\/p>\n
My teacher got down on her knee and moved her face towards mine and said, \u201cInvite me in and I\u2019ll tell you!\u201d I let them come in and closed the door.<\/p>\n
Mom stuck her head out of the kitchen again and said, \u201cOh Hannah, you made it. And you brought your friend\u2026 Miranda, right? Was Coop surprised?\u201d<\/p>\n
My teacher laughed and said, \u201cMiranda\u2026 yes. I think Cooper was completely surprised! Maybe a little TOO surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amanda had frowned when she heard mom call her \u201cHannah\u201d, and finally said, \u201cHer name is Miss Zimmerman!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt school, yes\u201d, my teacher said, \u201cMiss Zimmerman. But here people can call me Hannah. I\u2019m a civilian here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s a civilian?\u201d Amanda asked.<\/p>\n
My teacher shook her head and said, \u201cI should have figured you\u2019d ask that. Let\u2019s see\u2026 a civilian is someone who is not in the military, not a soldier. Sometimes being a teacher feels like being a soldier that always has to follow orders, and give orders. But here I\u2019m just a regular person, a civilian, that doesn\u2019t have to follow those orders. Does that make sense?\u201d Amanda pushed her lips together and nodded, but still didn\u2019t look happy that our teacher wasn\u2019t Miss Zimmerman, at least not right now.<\/p>\n
My teacher pointed at the woman who came with her. \u201cAnd this is my\u2026 friend, Miranda. We were roommates in grad school.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHello everybody\u201d, her friend said, making a little wave. The kids waved back. Grownups said \u201cWelcome!\u201d, and hearing them say that, Ricky said, \u201cWelcome\u201d too.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdult beverages in the kitchen\u201d, said Ricky, pointing with his thumb, \u201cMrs. Z\u2019s famous Bloody Marys they say, though I wouldn\u2019t know, because\u2026 alas!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay\u201d, said my teacher, trying not to laugh. She and her friend went into the kitchen where all the other grownups were right now. Right after they came in, those Walter and Frank guys came out with clear plastic glasses with dark red stuff and little green pieces of celery coming out. Walter had two. It wasn\u2019t like that \u201cpunch\u201d at the parties at Molly\u2019s house, because you couldn\u2019t see through it. Mom made it with that tomato juice stuff. She let me taste the tomato juice and it was really yucky.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell us guys have our \u2018adult beverages\u2019\u201d, Walter said, winking at Ricky, \u201cAnd one for that hard working plumber in the bathroom.\u201d They walked by us into the back hallway.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe I can help too\u201d, said Molly\u2019s mom\u2019s friend, calling to Walter and Frank as he came out of the kitchen with his own glass of that red \u201cBloody Mary\u201d stuff, \u201cI\u2019m pretty good with a pipe wrench or a plunger!\u201d<\/p>\n
All the grownup women were talking in the kitchen and now the men were talking in the bathroom. Ricky looked in both rooms, came back and said, \u201cLively bunch\u2026 or bunches!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should go down in the basement\u201d, Molly said. The rest of us were still wondering about all the crazy grownups, but finally nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich way?\u201d asked Ricky. Molly pointed towards the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Ricky made a big smile and said, \u201cShall we?\u201d and walked into the kitchen saying, \u201cComing through. As you were. Smoke \u2018em if ya got \u2018em.\u201d Lots of the grownups laughed and shook their heads, which made Ricky happy, because he was always trying to get people, mostly grownups, to laugh and think he was really smart.<\/p>\n
When all of us kids finally got down in the basement, we saw that Marybeth\u2019s sister Hannah and Kenny were both sitting with David under the big white table in the TV part of the basement. They were pretending the table was their house and they were sitting around David\u2019s toy \u201cworkbench\u201d pretending it was a kitchen table, and his toy oven was there too with its toy plastic food. They also had the wooden spoons and bowls that mom had let David play with, and were eating pretend soup made from small Lincoln Log and Tinker Toy pieces. All the rest of us stood around the table and looked at them.<\/p>\n
Since Danny, Ricky and Marybeth were older than the rest of us, they always wanted to be in charge, and Danny was always worried that Ricky would try to be the only older kid in charge, because that was the way Ricky was, and Danny wanted to be like that too. So I could tell that Danny wanted to say something first.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo are you guys mom and dad with your kid?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Mary Beth and Kenny both shook their heads, but David nodded and said, \u201cEating soup.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not David\u2019s mom and dad!\u201d Hannah said, \u201cI\u2019m his pretend big sister and Kenny is his pretend big brother, but he\u2019s not pretend older than I am!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, I see\u201d, said Danny, and I could tell he was trying to figure out something funny to say like Ricky would. Marybeth just shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had every kind of wood soup\u201d, Ricky said, \u201cAnd it\u2019s much tastier if you add a little plastic.\u201d Gabe, Paul and Amanda laughed. Danny wrinkled his nose like he was mad that he didn\u2019t say something funny like that first. He ran over to my toy shelves and grabbed a dinosaur out of the shoe box they were all in and brought it over and kneeled down by the table and dropped it into the big bowl in the middle of the toy workbench.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about adding a little dinosaur meat to your soup?\u201d Danny asked, trying to be funny.<\/p>\n
\u201cYucky\u201d, said Hannah, sticking out her tongue and grabbing the dinosaur out of the bowl and throwing it on the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cYucky\u201d, said David, like Hannah had.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everybody likes dinosaur soup\u201d, Gabe said, \u201cAnd the Tyrannosaurus is much tastier than that Triceratops.\u201d He liked to try to say funny things too.<\/p>\n
Amanda, Molly and Paul were over looking at my toy shelves pointing at things. \u201cI\u2019ve got Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, dinosaurs, plastic boats too\u201d, Amanda said, \u201cBut I don\u2019t have any soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t either\u201d, Molly said, \u201cMom won\u2019t let me. It\u2019s not fair!\u201d Amanda nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s because you\u2019re girls\u201d, Paul said. He wasn\u2019t trying to be funny like Danny and Ricky. He never tried to be funny, he just said things that he\u2019d figured out and thought you should know too.<\/p>\n
\u201cRules are rules ladies\u201d, Ricky said, walking over to the toy shelves, \u201cBoys can\u2019t wear dresses and girls can\u2019t play with soldiers.\u201d Molly looked like she was worried about what he was saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr BE soldiers\u201d, Danny said, since he always wanted to talk when Ricky talked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that I wouldn\u2019t look good in a long white satin gown\u201d, Ricky said, making a silly face and moving his hips and shoulders back and forth pretending to be a grownup woman. \u201cBetter than shooting people\u201d, he said. Danny gave him a funny look.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean I wouldn\u2019t wear one\u201d, Ricky said to Danny, waving his hand, \u201cAnd I guess I\u2019d shoot somebody if I had to. I\u2019m just teasing the ladies.\u201d Danny nodded like that was okay and even laughed a little. It was interesting that grownup men sometimes call grownup women \u201cgirls\u201d when they were being silly, but Ricky called real girls \u201cladies\u201d to be silly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am NOT a LADY\u201d, Molly said to Ricky fiercely.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen what are you?\u201d Gabe asked, coming over to join us, \u201cA gentleman?\u201d He was trying to be funny too. Danny and Ricky laughed a little bit, which made Molly worried and mad. I realized that Gabe and Amanda from school didn\u2019t know Molly or any of my other friends, so Gabe maybe didn\u2019t know what he said would make Molly mad. Or maybe he didn\u2019t care if he made Molly mad because he wanted to be funny like Ricky and have Ricky think he was neat. I got worried that I should be saying something to help Molly because she was my best friend, but I didn\u2019t want Gabe to be mad at me.<\/p>\n
Molly WAS mad now at Gabe. She said, \u201cI\u2019m not a lady and I\u2019m not a gentleman\u201d, and thinking some more said, \u201cAnd I\u2019m also not a Tomboy. I\u2019m a GIRL!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOKAY!\u201d, said Ricky, \u201cYou’re a girl! Molly\u2019s a girl, Gabe!\u201d<\/p>\n
Marybeth shook her head and blew air out of her mouth and said, \u201cMolly can\u2019t be a \u2018gentleman\u2019 because you have to be a MAN to be a \u2018gentleMAN\u2019. Molly\u2019s a girl like Hannah, Amanda and me. Maybe she doesn\u2019t wear dresses like Amanda and I do, but she\u2019s still a girl. So you shouldn\u2019t tease her.\u201d<\/p>\n
She always seemed to always do a lot of smart thinking and figuring out what you should do. She WAS older, like Danny and Ricky. They knew more stuff too, and Ricky could figure stuff out to help him say more funny things that would make grownups laugh. But I think she had to figure out a lot more stuff by herself because her mom and dad were always working in some other place far away. Her grandma was kind of like a mom, but she couldn\u2019t do very much, so Marybeth had to do things and figure out things herself. The rest of us wanted to make our own choices, but Marybeth had to, and had to take care of Hannah too. She had too much to worry about to try to be funny like Ricky was and Danny tried to be, at least when Ricky was around.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah\u201d, said Amanda, \u201cYou have to be a grownup to be a lady or a gentleman!\u201d That\u2019s what I figured too.<\/p>\n
Paul said, \u201cMolly used to wear dresses to birthday parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah\u201d, said Molly, \u201cBecause mom made me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut apparently she doesn\u2019t anymore\u201d, Ricky said, \u201cSo we apologize for teasing you and the world is wonderful again.\u201d Ricky was being silly. I could tell everyone else thought so too. But at least they all stopped talking about Molly.<\/p>\n
Kenny finally got up from sitting under the table with Hannah and David to come over to the toy shelves with the rest of us. David looked like he wanted to get up too, but Hannah gave him some more soup, without the dinosaur in it.<\/p>\n
We kept talking about that sort of stuff for a while but then no one had anything more to say about it, and we started talking about toys. Which ones we had and which ones we liked best. All the time we talked it was getting noisier upstairs. We heard music playing and grownups talking, though we couldn\u2019t hear the words. Also we could hear lots of footsteps up above us making creaking noises.<\/p>\n
Then we heard shoes clomping down the stairs to the basement. It was Margie. She stopped before she got to the bottom and looked at all of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just came down to check how the birthday boy and all his friends are doing\u201d, she said, \u201cDo you guys have enough Kool Aid? Celery and peanut butter? We\u2019re fresh out of tater tots.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you the babysitter in charge of the kids?\u201d asked Ricky. He said it like a question, but it sounded like he had already figured out the answer.<\/p>\n
She made kind of a mad face but a silly one and put her hands on her hips with her elbows sticking out and said, \u201cRicky, Ricky, Ricky! Today I\u2019m a regular guest like everybody else.\u201d She didn\u2019t usually talk that silly, but she was up there with all the grownups who liked to be silly at parties. I wondered if drinking those Bloody Marys made you silly like that \u201cpunch\u201d stuff did at those parties at Molly\u2019s old house across the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s going on up there?\u201d asked Marybeth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I put on Sinatra records and everyone liked that, especially your mom\u201d, she said pointing at me. Then pointing at Molly she said, \u201cAnd she got YOUR mom\u2019s friend to dance with her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margie shook her head and said, \u201cWith that forties and fifties Sinatra-y stuff, you need a partner to dance and we\u2019ve got more women up there than men, and guys tend to be shy about dancing anyway unless their wife or girlfriend pesters them.\u201d<\/p>\n
But then she waved a finger in the air and said, \u201cBut\u2026 now that they\u2019ve had some Bloody Mary\u2019s, I\u2019m going to go back up and play some Rock and Roll, maybe a little Motown too, and we\u2019ll see if I can get more of them to move their feet, partner or not!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHey!\u201d, she said, with a big smile on her face, \u201cHardly any furniture in the living room? Problem? Nope\u2026 more room to dance!\u201d And then she looked around at all of us and said, \u201cYou guys should come up and try!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not all guys!\u201d said Amanda fiercely.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo you\u2019re not\u201d, said Margie. \u201cThat is technically correct!\u201d she said, wagging her finger at Amanda. She looked around the basement and said, \u201cLooks like you could use more celery and peanut butter. I\u2019ll send some down.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Margie went back upstairs Ricky looked at all of us and said, \u201cYou know, Margie was talking pretty strange. I don\u2019t think she\u2019s been just drinking the Kool Aid!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary Beth looked at Ricky and shook her head and said, \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d I don\u2019t think she knew him, because she hadn\u2019t been to Molly\u2019s birthday parties, which was the only time I usually saw him.<\/p>\n
Ricky shook his head and rolled his eyes and said, \u201cSometimes I don\u2019t even know!\u201d<\/p>\n
Because Ricky was talking, Danny wanted to be the one talking, so he said to me, \u201cI bet you\u2019re going to really like the present I got for you!\u201d It made everyone else look at him, which is what he wanted. \u201cIt\u2019s something you already have but these are different\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’re not supposed to tell someone what their birthday presents are before they open them\u201d, Amanda said fiercely.<\/p>\n
\u201cYEAH Danny\u201d, said Ricky, only pretending to be fierce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re right\u201d, said Marybeth, and everyone else except Danny and I nodded. I kind of wanted Danny to tell me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to tell him what it IS\u201d, said Danny, \u201cI was just going to tell him that he\u2019d like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you buy a birthday present for someone because you think they\u2019d like it?\u201d Gabe asked, \u201cI know he\u2019ll like my present, because he played with it at my house.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amanda sucked air into her mouth like she was scared and said, \u201cGabe! You\u2019re telling!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo I\u2019m not!\u201d said Gabe, \u201cI\u2019m just telling him WHY he\u2019ll like it, not WHAT it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll like mine\u201d, said Molly, \u201cBecause he already has some but needs more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he already have some but these are different like my present?\u201d asked Danny. Amanda just shook her head and made a funny sound inside her closed mouth.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe Cooper should tell us if he wants us to tell him stuff about his presents\u201d, Paul said. He\u2019d just been listening to everyone else talking. Everyone else looked at Paul when he said that then looked at me.<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t remember ever having to say something to a whole bunch of other kids at the same time who were all waiting for me to say it. At school when my teacher asked us questions we were supposed to raise our hands if we knew the answer. I would say the answer to her and all the other kids would hear what I said, but that was different. At school I said things because I KNEW the answer, and it was the teacher asking. Here other KIDS were asking and I DIDN\u2019T know what to answer. I would have to talk to a bunch of people at once. I had done that when I was pretending to be Captain Nemo when we were all playing on the monkey bars in the park, but not when I was not pretending and I was just being me. I wasn\u2019t sure what to say but I wanted to say something. I didn\u2019t want them to think I couldn\u2019t figure out what I liked, because they were other kids, and we told each other what we were really thinking and liking, at least most of the time. A lot of the time we didn\u2019t tell grownups what we were really thinking or liking, but they didn\u2019t tell us what they were really thinking or liking either.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d I said, but that didn\u2019t sound right because I DID know but it was hard to say. So I tried, and said, \u201cI like to know what I\u2019m getting so I can think about how much I\u2019m going to like it and what I\u2019m going to play with it before I get to open it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMe too\u201d, said Paul, Danny, Gabe and Marybeth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always figure out what my presents are before I open them\u201d, said Molly, \u201cSpecially the ones Coob gets me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot me\u201d, said Amanda, \u201cIt\u2019s a present and you\u2019re supposed to be surprised.\u201d Kenny nodded and said, \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what my mom always says\u201d, said Ricky, \u201cBut she hides my presents in this cupboard up high that she doesn\u2019t think I know about. But I do, and I try to look at them before she can wrap them. Grownups think they can fool me, but they can only fool themselves.\u201d He laughed. Danny and Marybeth, the other older kids, did too. Gabe looked at them laughing and tried to laugh too.<\/p>\n
As we talked we heard the music get louder upstairs. It was that \u201cRock and Roll\u201d music that Margie liked. Like that Chuck Berry guy that she showed me on TV when she tried to show me how to do Rock and Roll dancing. We could hear feet banging on the floor above us. Then we heard a bunch of grownups up there laughing and clapping their hands and saying stuff like \u201cBravo.\u201d<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Later two laughing grownups came clomping down the basement stairs. It was my teacher and her friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cHERE they all are\u201d, she said, sounding like other silly grownups at a party, \u201cThe birthday boy and all his comrades. We\u2019ve all been having such fun upstairs, talking and dancing, but we have to leave, so we\u2019ll miss the cake and presents, but I wanted to give my\u2026\u201d, she paused thinking, \u201cMy friend Miranda the chance to meet you, and Gabe and Amanda too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell no adult beverages down here\u201d, Ricky said, changing into that silly way he talked to grownups, \u201cso you’re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes\u201d, she said, trying not to be silly and looking at me, \u201cYour mom makes some great Bloody Marys. Adult beverages indeed! I probably drank a bit too much, but Mir can drive home.\u201d Her friend did a quiet silly laugh.<\/p>\n
Then my teacher looked at all us kids and said to her friend, \u201cSo I\u2019m Cooper, Gabe and Amanda\u2019s first grade teacher at Bach, Hannah Zimmerman.\u201d She pointed at each of us as she said our names.<\/p>\n
My friends all nodded, but Amanda said, \u201cTwo of them aren\u2019t guys!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight!\u201d said our teacher, pointing her finger at Amanada. Then she looked at her friend and said, \u201cSee, she\u2019s the one that always calls me on things like that. Doesn\u2019t miss a trick!\u201d<\/p>\n
From over by the shelves where she and David were now playing with Tinker Toys, Marybeth\u2019s sister said, \u201cMY name\u2019s Hannah\u201d, like two people couldn\u2019t have the same name.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh wow\u201d, said my teacher, \u201cAnother Hannah. Well, Hannah, like Cooper, I have a nickname that my friends call me, it\u2019s \u2018Hanny\u2019. So you can be \u2018Hannah\u2019 and I\u2019ll be \u2018Hanny\u2019, okay?\u201d Marybeth\u2019s sister wrinkled her nose thinking, but nodded. Everyone else stopped talking, not sure what to say next.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rest of you other guys\u2026 and gals\u201d, she said, \u201cI presume are Cooper\u2019s other friends. A couple of you I recognize from Bach.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Danny. And I\u2019m in Missus Rodney\u2019s class\u201d, said Danny.<\/p>\n
\u201cThird grade\u201d, said my teacher, nodding, \u201cHow do you like her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s okay\u201d, Danny said, like he didn\u2019t want to say what he really felt in front of another grownup teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear that a lot\u201d, she said, nodding slowly and making her eyes smaller, like she was thinking and even worrying about something.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m Marybeth. I\u2019m in Missus Larkin\u2019s class\u201d, said Marybeth, \u201cFourth grade\u201d, like that was better than Danny in third.<\/p>\n
\u201cKenny and I are in Missus Blumenthal\u2019s class\u201d, Paul said. Then looking down like he thought that wasn\u2019t good, \u201cJust kindergarten. We didn\u2019t skip it like Cooper did.\u201d<\/p>\n
My teacher nodded but didn\u2019t say anything. Then she looked at Molly and Ricky.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have gone to Bach\u201d, said Molly, \u201cBut we moved, so I go to Burns Park instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI love that classic school building\u201d, my teacher said, \u201cAnd to have a school in a nice big park like that is perfect. Better than our little playground\u201d Then she looked at Ricky.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I attend Eberwhite\u201d, said Ricky, \u201cWe\u2019re next to a woods AND a park. My grade level\u2026 I\u2019m not at liberty to say.\u201d He shook his head, making a pretend face like he wished he could say but he couldn\u2019t. But I knew he was in third grade like Danny, but probably didn\u2019t want Marybeth to know she was more than he was.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been in your school\u201d, she said, \u201cBut Mir and I have walked through your playground, Ross Park AND the woods. Very nice. If we had a woods like that next to Bach I\u2019d take my students out there every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyway\u201d, said my teacher, clapping her hands together, \u201cMiranda and I have to go, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cooper. I\u2019m so sorry we won\u2019t get to see you open our presents but we think you\u2019ll like what we got you.\u201d She looked at her friend who nodded at me. \u201cYou\u2019re familiar with them but I won\u2019t tell you what they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy birthday\u201d, said her friend, \u201cIt was nice to meet you Cooper, and to meet all your friends too.\u201d The two of them then clomped back up the stairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee\u201d, said Amanda to the rest of us, \u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to tell!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Cooper\u201d, said Ricky, talking like he was in charge of all of us, \u201cYou have a nickname?\u201d<\/p>\n
Yeah, COOPER\u201d, said Danny, \u201cTHAT\u2019S his nickname!\u201d Most of the other kids laughed.<\/p>\n
Ricky shook his head and his eyes looked up without making his head go up and said, \u201cI need a drink!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Kool Aid\u2019s up there!\u201d said Kenny, pointing at the big plastic jug at the top of the stairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try not to drink too much Kool-aid\u201d, Ricky said, wrinkling his nose and shaking his head but just a tiny bit.<\/p>\n
We went back to talking about toys for a while. We all liked talking about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know\u201d, said Marybeth, \u201cI think the grownups forgot about us and are having their own party up there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know\u201d, said Ricky, \u201cThat\u2019s what those adult beverages will do to them.\u201d He seemed like he was kind of liking Marybeth now, even though she was in a bigger grade than he was.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s sneak upstairs and see what they\u2019re doing\u201d, said Gabe, \u201cCoop, you go first!\u201d I nodded.<\/p>\n
I started to quietly step up the stairs like I did sometimes when mom was talking to dad or Molly\u2019s mom in the kitchen or to someone on the phone so they didn\u2019t know I was listening. The others followed me and did the same thing, some saying \u201cshh\u201d to others. Even Hannah and David came too, though David didn\u2019t really know how to be sneaky.<\/p>\n
As I got to the landing by the side door I could hear the music louder. A voice was singing though it sounded more like an older kid, and it was hard to tell if it was a boy or a girl.<\/p>\n
Just because you’ve become a young man now
\nThere’s still some things that you don’t understand now
\nBefore you ask some girl for her hand now
\nKeep your freedom for as long as you can now
\nMy mama told me, you better shop around<\/p><\/blockquote>\nHe or she was singing about holding hands so I figured it WAS an older kid like Margie, and not a grownup. I peeked around the refrigerator. I could see Margie\u2019s back standing just on the other side of the door from the kitchen to the living room by that record player she brought. Her shoulders and bottom were moving side to side and her foot with just a sock on was tapping on the floor like the music. There were two grownups in the middle of the room holding each other\u2019s hand and dancing around the other one. It was Danny\u2019s mom and Molly\u2019s mom\u2019s friend. Both of them had just socks on too, along with a lot of other grownups, who were moving and kind of dancing too, but not with another person.<\/p>\n
The other kids were coming up behind me peeking around the fridge either above my head or below it.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as I figured\u201d, whispered Ricky, \u201cWay too much adult beverages, that\u2026 what ya call it stuff\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBloody Marys\u201d, whispered Paul.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah\u201d, whispered Ricky, \u201cI was just going to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The song ended and all the grownups were clapping. Margie was doing stuff to the record player that I couldn\u2019t see and said, \u201cOkay guys. Here\u2019s another new Motown Song, by Mary Wells.\u201d I heard a scratch noise then the next song started.<\/p>\n
The music part was noisy and honking, not like that smoother music in those Frank Sinatra songs or that played in those TV shows and cartoons. And the woman\u2019s voice singing sounded rough and worried, again more like she was an older kid than a grownup\u2026<\/p>\n
Well, you know you took my heart
\nAnd you broke it apart
\nWhy did our love, baby, yeah, yeah
\nHave to ever start?<\/p>\nYou know you took my love
\nThrew it away
\nYou gonna want my love someday
\nWell, a bye-bye, baby<\/p><\/blockquote>\nShe said \u201cbaby\u201d, but I didn\u2019t think she was talking about a real baby. I think it was some kind of nickname for another person that you liked a lot. And I\u2019d heard grownups use that \u201clove\u201d word a lot, when they really liked something. And on those \u201csoap\u201d shows that mom watched on TV they said it when they wanted to get kissy faced. But kids didn\u2019t say it very much, except maybe older boys in the park when they wanted to tease some other boy that he wanted to get kissy faced with some girl. The word just made me worried, and I was glad that since Molly moved to that new house, she and I didn\u2019t play together in the park anymore where some older boys could see us and tease me about her being my \u201cgirlfriend\u201d and asking me if I was \u201cin love\u201d with her.<\/p>\n
The woman kept singing\u2026<\/p>\n
Well, you said that I
\nWas your only girl
\nAnd there was no others, yeah
\nIn this whole wide world<\/p>\nYou know you took my love, threw it away
\nYou gonna want my love someday
\nWell, a bye-bye, baby<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI think when you were older and had a real girlfriend, you weren\u2019t supposed to have another girlfriend at the same time. That was really bad. But that \u201ctook my love, threw it away\u201d part didn\u2019t make sense. I didn\u2019t think \u201clove\u201d wasn\u2019t a thing, it was just liking something or somebody a lot.<\/p>\n
David pushed his way through the other kids saying, \u201cWanna see\u201d, but not whispering. He saw Margie and ran out into the kitchen towards her saying her name. She turned and saw him and then saw the rest of us behind the refrigerator.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere they are\u201d, she said, \u201cChecking out the crazy grownups. You guys want to dance?\u201d We all shook our heads.<\/p>\n
Except for David, who nodded and put his hands up in front of him as he ran into the living room, making grownups start to laugh. Danny\u2019s mom saw him and grabbed his hands and tried to get him to dance with her.<\/p>\n
I heard mom\u2019s loud voice from the other side of the living room. \u201cLooks like the natives are getting restless\u201d, she said, sounding kind of silly, \u201cI think it\u2019s time to have the cake\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Someone else said, \u201cAnd eat it too!\u201d All the grownups laughed, though I couldn\u2019t figure out what was funny. I looked at the other kids around me and none of them laughed or looked like they knew either. Not even Ricky, who seemed to know all about grownups and what they were saying.<\/p>\n
So dad got the cake, which was on top of the fridge, and mom put the candles on and lit them, and all the kids and the grownups sang happy birthday to me. Even Molly sang it, which was different than my other birthday parties. At all my other parties she didn\u2019t sing it, because I figured she felt that she and I were the same, and to sing to me made me different then her, or something like that. Then mom, Danny\u2019s mom and Molly\u2019s mom cut the cake and gave everybody a piece. It tasted really good because it was chocolate, and David got it all over his face but Hannah wanted to wipe it off, instead of mom or dad doing it.<\/p>\n
Then mom put all my presents in the middle of the living room, because she wanted everybody to see me opening them. You can\u2019t really open presents standing up, so I sat down by them. All the other kids sat around me in a circle. Molly didn\u2019t try to sit next to me like she did at my other birthday parties, but just sat in the circle next to Paul, who she also liked a lot. Margie and the grownups kept standing outside our circle. Some of them talked to each other while they watched us. Most of their faces looked happy and kind of silly like grownups got at parties.<\/p>\n
It seemed like the most presents I\u2019d ever gotten, but I was worried that so many people were watching me, especially all the grownups. I might do something bad the way I opened them, or what I said or how I looked after I saw what each one was. So I figured if I opened a present from a grownup I\u2019d do what mom always wanted me to do and say thank you. I\u2019d say thank you to dad\u2019s friends, and even to mom and dad. Then they would be proud of me and all the other grownups would think mom and dad were good, because I was saying thank you which pretty much all grownups thought kids should do.<\/p>\n
But I didn\u2019t want to say thank you to the other kids, because it was like we were all on the same team. When you\u2019re on a team playing baseball, or football, or fighting a war, you don\u2019t say thank you when someone else on your team helps you, because that\u2019s what you’re all supposed to do all the time.<\/p>\n
But then I decided that I wouldn\u2019t say thank you to Paul\u2019s mom, Danny\u2019s mom, Molly\u2019s mom or Gabe\u2019s mom. If I said it to them, and not to Paul, Danny, Molly and Gabe then it would seem like the grownups were the ones that gave me the presents and not the kids. But if I said thank you to Paul, Danny, Molly and Gabe too, then it would be like we weren\u2019t on the same team anymore.<\/p>\n
But I DID decide to say thank you to Margie, because she was a lot older and was standing with the grownups. She wasn\u2019t a grownup, but she wasn\u2019t the same kind of kid like the rest of us.<\/p>\n
So Margie got me a \u201ctransistor\u201d radio. She said because it was a Japanese \u201cSony\u201d one, it didn\u2019t cost as much as the \u201cEmerson\u201d, which was the American kind. She said you didn\u2019t need to plug it in like a regular radio because it had \u201cbatteries\u201d, whatever those were, so you could listen to music wherever you were, even in the backyard or the park. She said there was a \u201cstation\u201d I could listen to, \u201cCKLW\u201d, that played the Rock and Roll and Motown songs that she liked and she figured I\u2019d like too. She said dad could show me how to \u201ctune\u201d it to that station, because it was like the regular radio we had in the basement, only smaller.<\/p>\n
Danny got me a different kind of soldiers, \u201cCivil War\u201d soldiers. He said that that war was a hundred years ago. The one team was blue and the other was gray. Since they were gray I asked him if they were Germans, but he said they were Americans, \u201cConfederate\u201d Americans. The blue ones were American too, \u201cUnion\u201d Americans. That sounded really interesting. I figured I had to go to the library, either my school one or the giant one downtown, to see if there were books I could read about it. I liked being friends with Danny, because he told me about so many things that I didn\u2019t know about yet.<\/p>\n
Molly got me more Lincoln Logs, so I could build bigger forts. She always liked to get me more of the toys I already had and played with a lot, like Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs. She said that the next time she came over we could build a giant fort on the dirt pile in the backyard, but I shouldn\u2019t try to build it until she came to help. I didn\u2019t like it that she didn\u2019t live across the street anymore, and we couldn\u2019t just go over to each other\u2019s house whenever we wanted to play together. Mom had said that I \u201cmissed\u201d her, but that didn\u2019t make sense, because when you shoot at something and you don\u2019t hit it, you \u201cmiss\u201d it. But I didn\u2019t ask mom about that.<\/p>\n
Paul got me another war game, that \u201cStratego\u201d one that I\u2019d seen in those commercials on TV. He said you were supposed to be eight years old to play it, but he could play it and he was 6 like me. He said there were even bombs that blew you up.<\/p>\n
Kenny got me that \u201cLife\u201d game, which I had also seen on TV commercials. He said you drove around the board in this car and you had to decide whether to go to college or not. If you went to college you could get more money, but if you didn\u2019t you could get married and have kids sooner. Either way, you had to get married and have kids.<\/p>\n
Mary Beth and Hannah got me a toy submarine that had a clear top part so you could see into the inside. Marybeth said she knew I\u2019d like it because I really liked submarines, and I could play with it in the tub or in the basement. Hannah said that David could play with it too.<\/p>\n
Ricky got me a \u201cGirder and Panel Building Set\u201d, so I could make my own buildings and bridges. He said, \u201cLincoln Logs are old fashioned, and you should keep up with the times\u201d, whatever that meant. When he said that, Molly got mad and said, \u201cNo, they\u2019re not!\u201d I didn\u2019t ask him what \u201cold fashioned\u201d meant, because Ricky just said silly stuff to try to get people to laugh, but his present did seem pretty neat.<\/p>\n
Gabe got me an \u201cErector Set\u201d, which I\u2019d seen on another TV commercial. He said I could build my own machines like Tom Swift, or like he did. I think he liked Tom Swift even more than I did, and wanted to be an \u201cinventor\u201d when he got older, which was someone who figured out and made new things.<\/p>\n
Amanda got me that \u201cEtch a Sketch\u201d thing. It always looked pretty neat when they showed it on those commercials. It looked like a TV, with those two knobs at the bottom, but it was flat instead of a box. You turned the knobs to draw stuff on the \u201cscreen\u201d part. She said if you took a really long time you could draw away all the gray stuff on the screen and see the thing inside the screen that did the drawing.<\/p>\n
Dad\u2019s friends, those Frank and Walter guys, got me more Tom Swift books, which was what they always got me when they came to my birthday parties. Just looking at the pictures on the covers got me excited. They said I could probably read them by myself soon. \u201cSo you can give your poor old dad a rest\u201d, Frank said, laughing. I said thank you, and I could tell they both liked that, and mom and dad did too, just like I figured.<\/p>\n
My teacher and her friend also got me books. They were three books about those \u201cBorrowers\u201d people, those tiny people that lived in regular big people\u2019s houses. My teacher had read one of the books to all us kids in our class. I couldn\u2019t say thank you because they had already gone home. Mom said I should thank her when I went to school on Monday.<\/p>\n
And mom and dad got me those wooden trains, like the ones I used to play with at my Play School. I really liked Play School, more than my regular school, but I didn\u2019t tell my teacher because she was really nice and I didn\u2019t want her to get mad at me. Mom said dad had to drive all the way to the factory in New York to get them, because you couldn\u2019t get them in Michigan. \u201cMichigan\u201d was the school that dad went to, but it was also this big place all around the Ann Arbor city where we lived. Dad showed it to me on a map that also had that New York place we had taken the train to. Dad said it looked like a hand, but it didn\u2019t have fingers so I thought it looked like a mitten.<\/p>\n
Finally all the people went home. Before they left, all the grownups, and Margie, told mom and dad that it was a really great party. Dad smiled and nodded his head, but I could tell mom was REALLY happy. She had been so worried that it would be bad and she told dad she was sorry for being such a \u201cbundle of nerves\u201d.<\/p>\n
I liked my party. I got a lot of neat presents. Toys to make new things, like the building and erector sets. More Lincoln Logs so Molly and I could build bigger forts. Books that I could try reading by myself. And that new radio that I could use to listen to that special \u201cstation\u201d that Margie was telling me about.<\/p>\n
But the best thing was that most of my friends were there, and we got to talk to each other without the grownups around. We felt like a team, like we were different than the other grownup team. It wasn\u2019t like a war, where the grownups were the badguys like the Germans. And it wasn\u2019t like a baseball game where we were trying to win and \u201cbeat\u201d the other team. It was different. It was like we were trying to tell the grownups we WERE another team, and not just new guys on their team.<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t figure it out exactly, not yet, because I had to think about it more. But those songs those older kids were singing on those records, those Rock and Roll and \u201cMotown\u201d ones, sounded different than the songs dad sang to me or those Sinatra ones that mom liked. I didn\u2019t know the \u201canswer\u201d yet, that\u2019s the thing my teacher always wanted us to say, but I wanted to keep thinking about it, and listening to more of that music on my new radio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I woke up to the wind blowing against the window by my bed. It felt cold like that wind was getting inside too. My bed was now on top of David\u2019s because they were \u201cbunk beds\u201d. I looked over the edge and David\u2019s bed was empty, he was already up. He usually got up before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[1777,13,1774,1773,1799,1800,1775],"class_list":["post-7547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","tag-1960s","tag-ann-arbor","tag-autobiography","tag-childhood","tag-free-range-kid","tag-growing-up","tag-memoir"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7547"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7549,"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7547\/revisions\/7549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}