[wayne]

My 2nd wife – Chapter two.

Tina became a cheerleader. Long blond hair, long legs, I can clearly remember several times when she could not join the choir because she was too horse from cheering for the football team, which, it seems, never managed to win a game. The high school from Henderson Nevada would show up once a year, kick our collective ass, and then bus home like nothing had happened.

When I was a junior, one day in the summer, Tina showed up at my mother’s door.
She was accompanied by Bill and Dean and was wearing the shortest cut off’s any girl could ever wear and not be arrested. Tina was a big flirt and was “showing off” when she knocked on the door. My mother had a cow over it, which was silly because there was no room left in the freezer …

The three of them stood there, on the porch, Tina barely dressed, teasing me because I was not with them at that moment … my pal Bill (the other tuba player) and Dean (the Drum Major) turned into Jello just to be with her. I spoke with them for a few minutes and when they left my mother began screaming that they were drunk (my mother lived in a “fantasy” world where no one gets laid unless they are married). I defended them just a little and my mother grabbed an 8x10 photo (the nearest breakable object) and broke the glass over my head. I bled all over her carpet. She was very pissed over it. The photo was, as I recall, of my sister and her ‘born out of wedlock’ daughter.

Tina was “engaged” to a Mexican guy who’s name escapes me. There was a pool hall downtown, about 2 blocks from the house, which was converted after the mortuary moved to a new location. I was in there one afternoon and so was Paco. He managed to stick the butt end of his cue into my ribs, and then gave me hell for being in his way.
He was a foot taller than I was, a year older, and outweighed me by 60 pounds, so fighting him directly was out of the question. But he drove a ’57 Chevy, which ended up with 4 flat tires later in the day.

One afternoon Paco and Tina stood in the alley behind my house, necking and feeling each other. My mother was in the kitchen, watching the show, and expressed some sympathy over that. I am not actually fond of my mother, but that was one of the few times she was worth having as a mother. (When I was a little kid, in kindergarten,
I would walk home for lunch. She would put my feet in the oven, feed me tuna sandwiches and mushroom soup and read “Bridy of the Grand Canyon”. That is my only other fond memory of my mother.)

A few months later he got a letter from Richard Nixon … “Greetings” from the President.
His name is on the wall.

When we were seniors we had a pal named Steve. Steve was the co-Valedictorian of our class, (the other co- was a girl named Naomi) and eventually became nothing special. The last I heard he was working for the Arizona DPS as a crime lab guy. But one night when Steve’s parents were out of town I scored some wine and the three of us sat in front of the fireplace and drank it off. When the wine was gone we broke the glasses in the fireplace. (Not sure why we did that but Steve insisted it was traditional to bust up the glasses.) Then we escorted Tina home, about ½ a block, and stood in the street under a streetlight listening to her parents giving her hell for being late. Her mother spent about 30 minutes calling her a “dumb blond”. As it turned out, this was a big problem for Tina.

After Poco kicked the bucket Tina began dating Eddy, and I was dating Donna. We were only 90 minutes from Vegas and it was common to pick up the girls, drive to Vegas, have dinner, and then drive back. When Eddy and I did that, I would drive the first shift, while Eddy and Tina were in the back seat. Then Eddy would drive home, while Donna and I were in the back seat. One night Donna and I were fucking in the back seat and Tina happened to look back there, was startled that we were fucking, and spent the next half hour watch us.

I eventually eluded the draft by joined the Marine Crops and married Donna. Donna is a “puffy” and was really fun on the beaches in North Carolina. Donna liked see-through swimsuits (those Danskin bras and panties) and more than once the entire platoon and I would take Donna to the beach and enjoy the show. We lasted seven years, almost to the day, but Donna turned out to be a “God fearing woman” and I was still just me, so …

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