At Halloween, he took me home to meet his family.
His Mom was a little bird of a woman
tiny bones
tiny little cupie bow mouth
and a fantastic cook.
Every meal we had was at least seven courses.
His Dad was big and tall
with the same red hair and dimples
that Charles had
and the same delightful happy personality.
Charles called them Mutt and Jeff.
Or sometimes just Tall and Small.
He had an older brother
who was thin and dark like their Mom
but delightful and happy too.
The first night
Charles' Mom spread newspapers all over the kitchen table
and we carved pumpkins.
One for each of us.
I killed my pumpkin right away
with a carving knife to the eye
which went right through him
and splat!
one whole side cracked and fell off.
I was horrified
and blushed fire red
but they just laughed at me
and Charles turned him aroud
and carved out the good side.
The next night we handed out candy
to goblins and princesses
then we had doughnuts and coffee
and talked for hours
before we went to bed.
I had such a good time!
I knew that they liked me
like Mom and Daddy liked Charles.
On the way back up to school
Charles said to me
"If we get married
I'd like to have a bunch of kids."
And I said to Charles
"If we get married
I don't want any kids at all
because I don't want to live in a house full of diapers."
Charles laughed
but he went on to say
"I am the second son of a second son
and I would sure like to have a second son
so we need to have at least two."
And I knew he meant business.
But I meant business too.
I didn't want any kids at all.
I had had enough of them
with all of Mom's babies.
I decided to drop the subject of kids.
"IF is a big word,"
I teased him.
"This is the first I've heard of getting married."
He reached over and took my hand
and started to sing
"Here comes the bride
Big fat and wide
See how she waddles from side to side."
We both laughed
and I punched him
and he punched me
then he pulled over onto the shoulder of the road
and took me in his arms.
Later, it occurred to me that I could always wait a year or two
before I had a baby
because I wanted to finish school
and then maybe wait another couple of years
before I had his second son of a second son.
That way I wouldn't have too many diapers at once.
Things could always be worked out.
Or so I thought.
Music Playing: Killing Me Softly
This page contains copyrighted material
©2001
GO TO CHAPTER 9
This story is a continuation of Diary of a Preacher's Daughter.
For earlier stories, click on my banner:
Click on my award :
owned by Lynne Cox [ Prev | Skip Prev | Prev 5 | List | Stats Join | Rand | Next 5 | Skip Next | Next ] |
|
