“You don’t have to apologize, because what you said about us is true. And Frank was right to hide his cancer from me, because I don’t think I would’ve been strong enough to help him go through his treatments. Both of us are older and hopefully wiser, where we can truly enjoy each other’s company.”
“Does this mean you’re going to marry him?”
“No, Kenny. Frank doesn’t want to get married, and neither do I. That’s something we can both agree on.”
“So, it doesn’t bother you to see him every once in a while, and then go on vacation together?”
“Of course not. We’re not like some young couple who have to call and see each other every waking minute. I’m thirty-five, and Frank is forty-two, and we plan to have fun for how much time we’ve been given.”
“I suppose I’ll see life differently when I’m your age,” Kenny said, smiling.
“I’m sure you will. Now, tell me if you want me to keep this girl off your back until she leaves for college?”
“Please, Mama.”
“Oh, now it’s Mama. And because I am your mama, I will answer the phone whenever it rings and tell her you’re either working, sleeping, or out with your friends.”
Kenny smiled. “Love you, Mom.”
Justine nodded. “I know.”
She sat at the table long after Kenny left the apartment to meet his friends. She didn’t want to believe her son had slept with a girl he didn’t like, then decided he didn’t want to see her anymore. But how did he expect her to react? No woman wanted to be used for sex, then discarded like a piece of trash.
Justine knew from the way Larissa had been staring up at Kenny and hanging on his arm that she wanted more than friendship. Justine hoped that he’d used a condom when he had sex with her. One time she had been rearranging the clothes in his dresser and she’d discovered a supply of condoms. They indicated he was having or contemplating having sex, and their presence had eased some of her anxiety that he would get someone pregnant or come down with a venereal disease.
Kenny had been so adamant that he wanted her and Frank to marry, and Justine wondered if it was because he hadn’t wanted her to grow old alone. Every once in a while, he’d talk about her being alone, and she knew it was something that weighed heavily on him. She didn’t have any close friends, but there were a few times when she would join some of her coworkers at a restaurant for the retirement or birthday celebration of a staff member.
It was at one of the get-togethers that a Black pharmacist had asked her out. She’d agreed to meet him for brunch. Justine found him intelligent, charming, and articulate. Someone she wouldn’t mind seeing again. Then everything changed when he began talking about his ex-wife. It was apparent he hadn’t gotten over her leaving him for another man. When she suggested he seek counseling to deal with the dissolution of his marriage, he thanked her, because it was something heneeded to hear. He then asked if she would see him again once he resolved his problem. Justine told him she would and wished him the best. They’d parted as friends, and whenever she would see him at the hospital, he would give her a thumbs-up sign. That was more than three months ago, before Frank had come back into her life.
Frankie and Ray were waiting for Kenny in front of the coffee shop when he arrived. The dining establishment had changed owners twice since they’d first begun eating there in the seventh grade, but the cooks had stayed on.
Ray, who’d let his curly hair grow, now sported a modified Afro. Frankie also stopped cutting his hair like so many young college students. Raven-black waves nearly reached his shoulders. They were eighteen, all had registered for the draft, and were fiercely opposed to the war in Vietnam. The three entered the coffee shop and sat in their favorite booth near the rear.
“What’s up with the beard?” Kenny asked Frankie.
Frankie ran his fingers over the stubble on his face. “I’m trying to fit in with the hippies before I begin classes.”
Ray grunted. “That’s okay with me. Just make certain you shower every day.”
Frankie laughed. “Not all hippies are dirty.”
“Frankie’s right,” Kenny said, meeting his blue eyes.
With the emerging beard and longer hair, Frankie’s appearance had changed from matinee idol leading man to villain. He said his mother complained about his long hair, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now that he was an adult.
“My sister Delores came home a couple of days ago and announced she enlisted in the Army as a nurse,” Ray said. “I thought it was the beginning of World War III. Papi went completelyloco, and my mother cried so much she had to go to bed.”
“Why did she do that?” Frankie asked.
Ray shook his head. “I don’t know. It would be one thing if there wasn’t a war going on, but to be shipped overseas to work in a jungle hospital is crazy as hell.”
Frankie slowly shook his head. “She’s going to a war zone while we’re trying to keep our asses here, hoping to get a deferment as college students.”
Kenny didn’t want to think of being drafted and leaving his mother alone. Perhaps it would be easier if she had another child or children, but to bury her only child would prove to be devastating for her. Expressly since she refused to marry again.
“What if we marry and have some kids, then maybe we would be exempt from the draft,” Ray joked.
“That was possible before that fucker LBJ rescinded the exemption for married men with children in 1965,” Kenny spat out.
