Same Old Song and Dance Ch. 01

I decided to just do that. I would just relax over the summer and have a good time. There was no need and no reason to make a big scene and confront Kira. She was a grown woman. She had the right to make her own choices. She could do whatever she wanted with whomever she wanted. And I had the right to do the same. I actually felt a bit foolish.

I mean with all the opportunities, I'd had to meet someone at college; I'd stayed faithful to her. There weren't really very many guys our age around town. That asshole that Kira had taken up with, Jeff Fairenbrook was a couple of years older than us. His father owned a car dealership two towns over. He seemed to like his women a bit younger though. His fiancé, Lana, was one of the prettiest girls in our class. And also one of the smartest. She was in a pre-med program at the same college I attended.

I had a couple of required classes with her. In fact, I had helped her with differential equations in one of the math classes that both engineering and pre-med students had to take. Lana was still as nice as she'd been in high school. And unfortunately she was totally faithful to that asshole.

As I drove home, I debated, whether or not I should tell Lana. By the time I got home, I was even angrier than I'd been before. All kinds of things went through my head. I even thought about dating Lana to throw it in Kira's face. I had all sorts of bizarre dreams, but in the end, reason won out.

After all, I was studying engineering. Engineers are critical thinkers. We're problem solvers. We have to look at a problem, examine the facts, come up with a solution, and look at the end results of that solution and any others.

In this case, the facts were plain and simple. Kira did nothing legally wrong. Her only crimes were moral, and they were against me. So it was up to me to decide not only how we would go forward, but how I would. As I've mentioned, I felt foolish. I felt foolish because I had turned down opportunities to spend time with and possibly have sex with other women. I had done that because I loved Kira. What had happened in my absence had only served to prove that Kira didn't love me the same way.

What had Jeff called me? Her, "meal ticket." I just decided that wasn't what I wanted to be. I still wanted to have a great life and marry someone whom I would love and spend the rest of my life with. It just wouldn't be Kira. And since she lacked the class to tell me that she had taken up with another guy while I was gone, I didn't feel obligated to let her know that we were done.

So, as I woke up that bright and sunny Saturday morning, my mood was already altered. And even though I thought that I was fine, I wasn't.

I vaguely remembered talking to my mom about helping her at the picnic. We were supposed to be delivering food that other people would cook and setting up the grills. I grabbed a couple of toaster waffles and some microwave bacon. One good thing about being home was that there was always food.

I jumped into my Mustang and noticed that I needed to wash it. My sonic blue paint wasn't very hard to keep clean like my Dad's cars. But I still liked to keep her looking good.

I revved up the engine and drove towards the park. Despite my decision to put my anger and the situation with Kira behind me, my first test arrived. As I got to the corner of my street, I noticed Kira's mom's ancient Chevy Malibu coming in the opposite direction. The car was stopped at a traffic light. I drove right past it, noticing that Kira, as usual, had her head down adjusting the radio station while she waited for the light to turn green.

As I passed her, the sound of my motor caused her to look up suddenly. I turned my head the other way avoiding eye contact and continued on as if I hadn't seen her. When I got to the corner. I made a sharp right turn, even though the freeway entrance was in the opposite direction. With my turn completed, I floored it. Fortunately, it wasn't a residential street.

When I reached the other end it the street, I made a quick left drove a block and made another quick left. I floored it again and got to the next corner just in time to see Kira make a U-turn headed the way she'd seen me going. My phone rang then, and I just let it go to voicemail.

Once Kira made it to the street where I'd turned, I waited for her to go down that street and then drove straight to the freeway and took that to the park as I had originally planned. As I drove, I was happy. I put some distance and some time between us. Knowing Kira as I did. I knew that if she had not seen me; she'd have driven to my house. If she didn't find me there, she'd go to town to the car show. She would either find me there or speak to my dad and find that I was helping my mom. Then she'd drive to the park and catch me there.

This way, I could go to the park and help my mom and then go to the race to watch my dad and finally hang around at the car show. With cars all over town, avoiding her wouldn't be a problem. There was also the fact that I knew she was looking for me, but she had no idea that I was done with her.

I got to the park in record time. I floored it and was doing over an hundred and forty on the long sweeping straights between my house and the park. With all kinds of people heading into town and the park, I knew that none of our town's five, count em ... Law enforcement officers would be on the freeway. And really that total was down to four, since I knew the Sheriff, himself would be getting ready to run in the 10k race.

My car's usual rumble sounded more like an angry growl as I pulled into a parking spot in the big parking lot at the park entrance. One of the old timers there waved at me as I got out of the car.

"God damn," he chirped. "That thing's as loud now as when your daddy drove it. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you was him turned young again. Ya look just like him; I swear. But you better git your britches in gear. Your mom's been cussing up a storm for the last half-hour or so about you not showing up to help her."

"Thanks for the warning Mr. Richards," I said. Reed Richards had been the high school's science teacher for over forty years before he retired a couple of years ago. He'd been my dad's science teacher, my sister Sherry's, and mine too. His love for science was contagious, and I think that he was responsible for both my dad and indirectly, me, going into engineering.

I headed for the picnic area at a brisk jog. When I rounded the copse of trees that served to block the winds from the picnic area and also provided shade during the hotter summer weather, what I saw slammed me into a stop. I felt as if I was having a heart attack.

However, the closer I got, the worse it became. At first, I thought I was seeing things. I blinked several times, but it didn't go away.

There she stood, my mother, the woman I had always loved and respected, with her hands down in a guy's pants while he felt around in hers.

They were so busy that they didn't even realize that I was there until I was. They were both concentrating on the people in front of them who were working on the picnic. They didn't think that anyone could see them. And as far as the people in front of them went, they were correct. But I was coming up from behind them.

"Get your fuckin' hands off of the whore!" I yelled. A man who was older than my father snatched his hands from my mom's panties and stepped away from her.

"I ... I ...!," he stuttered.

"You what, asshole?" I yelled. My anger at Kira and everything else just boiled over at that moment. I punched the guy in the face as hard as I could.

He staggered away from me holding his hands to his face.

"I don't want to hurt you, kid!" he said.

"As if you could," I growled. "But I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to hurt you badly."

As he tried to run away, I jumped forward and tackled him. I started beating the shit out of him. My father had sent me to martial arts classes from the time I could walk. After the third punch several men from the set-up crew pulled me off of him. They held me while he ran away.

The men tried to calm me down, and my mother came over to me. "Terry, Honey, we need to talk about this," she said.

"The only person I'm going to talk to is dad," I growled. "As soon as they let me go; that's where I'm going."

"Terry, please, you can't do that," she whined.

"I have nothing to say to you, whore," I snapped. "I have no respect left for you. Just get away from me."

"Let him up," said one of the men. "Ralph is gone now. I don't know what he did or why the boy went after him. But it's over now. They can calm down now separately. Terry we're going to let you go. But don't go anywhere near Ralph until you calm down. Ralph may be old, but he can cause you a lot of problems."

Just as I got up, my problems got worse. As I tried to walk away, my mother trailed along behind me. "Terry, can we talk?" she whined.

I walked almost back to my car with her trailing right behind me. "Terry, it was only a joke. You have to let me explain. Stop, Terry, talk to me. I can explain it."

I turned so fast that she ran into me. "You don't have to explain shit to me, whore," I spat. "Explain it to Dad."

"Terry, it was just a joke that got out of hand," she said. "If you tell your father, he will never understand it. Terry, I'll lose him." She was crying her eyes out.

I tried to calm myself down. I tried to think and act in a very analytical manner. I sat down on a bench near where I parked. And looked at her.

"Okay, explain it to me," I said. I tried to remain emotion free, but she was still the woman who had wiped my runny noses and made my favorite cocoa when I was a child. I wanted to believe her. However, at that moment, my trust in the female of the species was not at a very high level.

"Well ... Uhm ... Ralph and I are old friends, and we always joke around. We uhm dated for a while before your father, and I met. And we've always joked about what things would be like if we had ... Uhm stayed together. And uhm ... For the past few years, we've patted each other on the butt ... Uhm your father knows about it. But this time it just got out of hand. It was kind of like a dare that neither one of us wanted to back down from. It just got out of hand."

I got up and pressed the button on my alarm. My Mustang's locks sprang open.

"So we can keep this between us, right?" she asked.

"I'm not four, mother," I spat. "I'm not stupid. I won't believe something just because an adult said it. That man is old enough to be my grandfather. That means he's old enough to be your father. You and dad got married when you were abut twenty years old. You expect me to believe that you were dating a guy that old before you met dad?"

"You have to believe me," she said without looking at me. "It was a big secret. When Ralph and I broke up because of the age difference, your dad swooped in and swept me off of my feet. But I never fully got over Ralph."

I signed. "I grew up today, Mom," I said. "It's just like that old song about how growing up is hard to do. I guess the roughest part is discovering that one of the two people I trust most in the world is not worthy of my trust. I don't believe a fuckin' word of what you just said. There is no way dad would ever be okay with some guy putting his hands on you. Whether it was a joke or not. Dad has always treated you like you were made of gold, and now it turns out that you're just another ..."

"I'm still your mother young man," she snapped. "I will not be spoken to in that manner. You will ..."

"Before you go too much further, mother," I said with my voice dripping sarcasm. "What are you planning on doing to me? Are you going to spank me? And what if I decide not to tell him ... Are you going to take me out for ice cream? Ooh maybe we could go to McDonald's."

"But Terry, it was just a mistake," she said. "It's not worth destroying our entire family over. If you tell your dad about this, he will never understand. We'll all lose. We don't deserve that. Your sisters don't deserve it. Your father certainly doesn't deserve it. All this can do is hurt them. Can't we just ...?"

"Can't we just what, Mother?" I asked. "Forget that it happened? Forget that you're cheating on dad? Can't we just pretend that it never happened?"

"Terry, you're blowing this way out of proportion," she said. "I have never cheated on your father. This was just some harmless fooling around. Don't try to make it more than it was. I would never ... not ever ..."

As I looked into her eyes, I knew she was lying and my anger became even worse.

"Shut up, Mother," I snapped. "I'm going to give you a couple of days. I want dad and the girls to have a nice weekend. But Monday evening when dad comes home, we're all going to have a talk. If you're smart, you'll tell him before I do. It would be the right way to handle it. Leaving your son to tell his father that the woman he loves more than anyone on earth is cheating on him isn't something a parent should do to their child."

"Terry, it was a one-time thing. It was a mistake. I'm only human. I swear to you that I will spend the rest of my life ..." she began.

"Save it," I barked. "I can see that you think you can lie your way out of this, but ..."

"What lie," she asked.

"You started out telling me it was nothing," I said. "Then it became just a mistake. And you said that Dad knew about it. Then when I told you how ridiculous, it was you admitted that it had gotten out of hand. But you said it was just some fooling around. That was a lie too, and now you're telling me that it only happened once and somehow I don't believe that either. I don't believe a word out of your mouth, mother and I never will again. You have a couple of days before I talk to dad, but don't ever speak to me again."

For most people, the argument with the person formerly known as their mother would have been the lowest point of the day. But as I got into my car and drove away, I saw Kira driving into the park. She was circling the park the way that I had, but had yet to make it to the area near the parking lot. I hung a quick180 and drove the long way around, circling the entire park just to avoid her.

Dealing with one lying, cheating whore was bad enough. I didn't think I was ready for the bi-fecta.

I headed back for town. I decided to go and watch my dad run his race. He could use someone to cheer him on, and I could use a calming influence.

I drove quickly because I wanted to get there before the start of the race and ... Okay, why lie. I always drive fast. Whether I have a reason to or not.

I got to the town square and looked around for my dad. I said hello to a lot of people who welcomed me back to town. I promised to call some of them, so we could hang out or do things during the summer. And others I just greeted, to be polite. Finally, near the starting line, I spotted my dad. He was chatting with the Sheriff and my aunt Tara. She wasn't really my aunt. But she'd been my mother's best friend for all my life. I made my way over to him.

"Hey Dad," I said. "The sheriff told me to tell you that he was going to kick your ass in the race today." He looked over at the sheriff, who was standing right next to him and just smiled.

"It's good to have you back, Terry," said my aunt Tara. Ever since I was a kid, I've had a crush on her. But then half of the guys in town did. Not only was she pretty, she was built like a brick shipyard. And she had one of those bodies that only get sexier over time.

Before I could say anything else to my dad, a voice on the loudspeaker called the runners to the starting line.

The sheriff playfully bumped my dad as if he was trying to knock him down.

"Sixty eight seconds," smirked the sheriff.

"Huh?" Said my dad.

"The race is age graded, so you have to beat me by sixty eight seconds to win." The sheriff smiled. But, my dad smiled even more.

A big group of guys toed the starting line, including some of my friends and some of the high school kids. The announcer gave them a bunch of instructions and then shot a gun. The runners all took off; there were about a hundred and fifty of them. The crowd whistled and cheered as they went by. The first few blocks of the race were along the town's main street. The last few blocks were the same only in reverse. Most of the crowd settled down to wait for the finish of the race. A 10k is just over six miles of running so it would be a little over a half an hour before even the fastest runners were back.

I decided that staying in the same place for any length of time was not in my best interest. So I started walking around. I also tried to blend in with the crowd. That way, it would be harder for Kira to find me.

I ducked behind three guys. Two of them seemed familiar, but the other's face was obscured. But as soon as I heard his voice, I knew who it was and whom he was ranting about. I quickly hit the record button on my phone.

"Fuckin' bitches, man," he said. "First I have to deal with Lana ... Or Doctor Lana as I call her. Doctor Lana believes that we have to wait until we get married to have sex. If I left things up to her, my balls would dry up before we did anything. But then while Doctor Lana is out of town studying, I found the perfect little skank. Her loser boyfriend is out of town at the same college that Doctor Lana goes to. It's the perfect set up. Whenever Lana is home on break, he is too.

But now, fuckin' Kira cut me off because he's home for the summer. I had it all worked out. I figured that whenever he was busy with family shit, she could just come over and give me some. But she's talkin' like I'm supposed to wait until fall when he goes back to school. She's crazy. I found her. I can find another slut just as easily."

"What if she breaks up with her boyfriend," asked his friend.

"Not my problem, we are not like that," said Jeff. "Shit, I'd probably try to help her get back with him. It's not like I would ever marry a low-class skank like her. Dude, she's a waitress. I mean there's nothing wrong with being a waitress, but she's like a waitress-waitress. Ten years from now she'll be a dumpy single mother, like her mom, still working at that same old restaurant. And I'll be rich. I'll take over my dad's car dealership and be married to a hot doctor. Maybe you two will work for me."

That was all I could take. My simmering anger boiled over. "You forgot about how ten years from now you'll still be an asshole," I said. Their heads whipped around, and Jeff's mouth dropped open.

"Surely you remember me," I said. "I mean you were just talking about me, right?"

"We were talking about someone different," said one of the Jeff's friends.

"I don't know," I said. "I am or I was Kira's loser boyfriend."

"So how the fuck is that our problem," asked Jeff. "You left town. She decided to give some pussy away. I took it. If you can't control your woman, it's not my fault or my problem."

He started smiling at his two friends, and they all laughed. It was a really dumb thing to do because all that morning and the night before, I had been just barely holding my temper together. His snide quips were all it took for me to lose it.

"You're right," I said. "You've got other problems; like picking your teeth up and getting my foot out of your ass." Before he even realized what had happened, I had punched him in the mouth so hard his head snapped backwards.

He tried to hit me back, but I sidestepped his wild swing and snapped his head back again. This time he fell onto the ground, already woozy. "Get him!" He yelled to his friends. "Kick his ass!"

"See ya later, Jeff," said one guy. He turned and left quickly.

"He's my ride," said the other pointing at the first guy, then taking off after him.