When Kenny revealed she’d been pressuring him to marry her, Ray had questioned, what was the rush? Why couldn’t she wait until after they graduated to tie the knot? When Ray had posed the same question to her, she was forced to tell him she was planning to move to Oakland to become a member of the Black Panthers, and she wanted him to come with her. Within days of Kenny telling her he wanted to put off marriage until graduation, she dropped out and joined a group of radical students heading for the West Coast. Kenny was heartbroken, but in the end he was thankful for the advice.
Frankie was dating a girl he suspected was stealing from him. He’d complained to Ray that whenever he went to her apartment, he would leave with less money than when he arrived. Frankie had admitted he would sometimes give her money to purchase something she wanted, yet that didn’t explainhow she’d managed to remove bills from his wallet without him being aware of it. When Ray suggested he mark the bills with an invisible ink that was only visible when it came into contact with a minimal amount of body heat, it did the trick when Frankie found red color on her fingertips. She was forced to confess that she’d come from generations of pickpockets, and it was something she did for a living.
When Ray thought about it, Kenny becoming involved with a girl who joined a militant group and Frankie falling for a pickpocket both paled in comparison to what he was facing. There was the possibility that he may have gotten Micky pregnant. Condoms and oral contraceptives weren’t one hundred percent effective in preventing contraception. Only abstinence was.
Micky telling Ray she was carrying his baby was like a stop sign. He had to stop sleeping with women. It was time for him to revert to adolescence, when he was forced to assuage his own sexual needs.
“Thanks, guys, for hearing me out.”
“If this turns out to be a false alarm, then make sure you keep your Johnson in your pants until you’re ready to become a daddy,” Kenny drawled.
“I second that,” Frankie said. “But if it turns out to be the real deal, then I’m volunteering to become godfather to your son or daughter.”
Kenny wrapped an arm around Frankie’s neck. “That’s not funny.”
Frankie flung off Kenny’s arm. “I’m serious. Both Ray and I are Catholic, so I would be the better choice for godfather than you, heathen.”
Kenny glared at Frankie. “You call me a heathen while you two Catholic boys are out here fucking everything in a skirt. What happened to waiting until you’re married to engage in sexual intercourse? And when was the last time either of you went to confession?” He held up a hand. “Wait, you don’t have to answer that. You probably stopped after youmade your Confirmation. So, y’all should be careful about who you call a heathen.”
Ray leaned over the table. “There’s no need to be so sanctimonious, Russell, because you’re no choirboy.”
Kenny smiled. “True, but at least I’m not a pussy gangster like my brother, D’Allesandro.”
Frankie laughed loudly, causing several diners to turn and look in their direction. “One of these days I’m going to give up pussy,” he whispered, “and settle down with a nice girl and start a family.”
“One these days, all of us will give up our causes to become a part of the establishment we now disdain,” Kenny said. “We’ll cut our hair, shave our beards, give up our love beads, dashikis, and sandals in exchange for a Brooks Brothers suit, trench coat, wingtips, and a wedding ring.”
Ray nodded. “As crazy as it sounds, I have to agree with you, Kenny.”
Frankie massaged the nape of his neck. “I know I’m going to miss my long hair when I have to get a position at an auditing firm before I take the CPA exam.”
“Same here when it comes to shaving,” Kenny said, running his fingers down his bearded face. “My mother keeps complaining that I look like the Wolfman with my hair and beard.”
Frankie shifted on his seat to meet Kenny’s eyes. “You mentioning your mother.”
“What about her?”
“Are she and my uncle still together?”
Kenny shook his head. “I really don’t know. There are long stretches of time when they don’t see each other; then he’ll come and take her out to dinner. Mom doesn’t have much free time with work and school. She just earned enough credits to become a junior, so she’s focused on graduating and becoming a teacher.”
“Good for her,” Ray said, smiling. “You must feel good that your mom decided to go back to college at her age.”
“She’s not going back,” Kenny told Ray. “She put off going to college because she married right out of high school and got pregnant with me a few months later. But she never gave up on her dream to become a teacher. Whenever she’s home, she has her head in a book, so I end up tiptoeing in and out so not to disturb her.”
“Is it weird that both you and your mother are going to the same college?” Frankie asked Kenny.
“Not at all. I suppose it would feel weird if we were in the same classes. But she goes at night, so our paths rarely cross.”
“Are you still planning to go to graduate school?” Ray asked Kenny.
“Yup. But I’m going to take a year off before starting. I need to give my brain a rest before opening more textbooks. Meanwhile, I’m planning to apply to several city social service agencies for a caseworker position. And if I’m hired, then I’ll keep my day job and go to social work school at night, because I want to save enough money to move into my own place.”
Frankie smiled at the waitress when she placed cups of steaming coffee on the table. “I’m calling it quits after I graduate, because once I get my CPA license, I don’t plan to sit in another classroom.”
Ray took a sip of coffee, staring at Frankie over the rim of the cup. “Do you still plan to take over your uncle’s business?”
“Yeah. He wants me to keep it in the family.”
