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Donnie & Lennie 5&6

Chicago’s West Side

          1944

At that moment­ Donnie had two clear-cut revelations:

Maybe it ain’t pee,

but that squirty,

gooey stuff that guys make into girls.

Also,

until that very moment he had never considered that,

If it feels so wonderful when you do it to yourself,

maybe it’s gotta feel even more wonderful

when you do it with a girl,

’cause if it didn’t,

why’d a guy ever wanna go to the bother of doin’ it with a girl?

“…Uh,”

pulling his thoughts together,

finishing his sentence,

“you, uh, kind’a, like,

uh, pee in her.”

Not having time enough to fully assimilate

what his friend had told him,

Lennie then had his own unbelievable thought:

Mom’n’dad always sleep with their door open,

’cept sometimes,

 then they close it,

an’ lock it,

an’ maybe that’s what they’re doin’ there then!

Walking on,

contemplative,

both boys pondering their thoughts,

and the silence,

though lasting only seconds,

became pronounced

“So,”

Donnie asked,breaking the prolonged silence,

“you understand now?”

“Well, yeah, I guess.”

Wanting to change the subject until he’d had time to think about it,

Lennie then asked the unanswerable question:

“But what’s it look like?

You know,

a girls…

thing?”

“This older guy didn’t tell us,

but you know what I think, Lennie?

I think it looks kind’a like our’s looks,

only on girls it’s littler an’ fatter

and kind’a like it has a big hole in it.”

Envisioning somewhat the same picture,

agreeing knowingly,

“Yeah, an’ it’s gotta be kind’a like all crinkly’n’ugly.”

Laughing, “Yeah,”

Donnie  said,

“s’no wonder girls are always catchin’ colds all the time.”

“Yeah,” Lennie added,

“with the wind blowin’ through it all the time.”

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                                            6

Approaching the theater,

walking to the end of the line of children

waiting for the doors to open,

“Wanna know somethin’

I just been thinkin’ ’bout?”

“Yeah, sure, Lennie.”

Standing back from the two girls before them,

speaking softly,

“I heard my Mom’n’dad talkin’,

an’ they said somethin’

’bout your ma bein’…”

When he’d heard the word,

Lennie had made a mental notation

and now searching his memory…

“p… pr… preg… I can’t remember,

only I’m pretty sure your ma’s

gonna have a baby.”

“A baby? No!”

The two girls standing in front looked over their shoulders.

“Yeah, she is!

I’m sure she is!

That’s why she’s so fat.”

“No! She’s fat, ’cause…

Uh, she…”

Stopping, thinking,

the statement becoming a question,

“ ‘swallowed a watermelon seed’?”

The ridiculousness of his father’s

explanation suddenly apparent.

“When I asked why she’s so fat,

my dad said my mom, uh,

swallowed a watermelon seed,”

Donnie said softly,

as though not wanting anyone

else to be witness to his stupidity.

“An’ he said that’s why she’s so fat.”

“Don’t be such a dummy!

You ever eat watermelon

without swallowing a seed…

without swallowing a whole bunch’a seeds?”

Looking away,

Donnie didn’t answer.

But persisting,

“You believe everything your dad says?”

“Yeah, sure, why not?

Kid’s dads don’t lie!

Do they?”

“Maybe he was only kiddin’.

I don’t know ’bout that,

but I do know…”

whispering directly into Donnie’s ear,

“your ma’s got a baby in her stomach.”

“Yeah?

How?

 What makes you so smart?

How’d you know?”

“‘How’d I know’?

Cause she looks like Lou Ann before she had her baby,

that’s how!”

Remembering,

picturing Lou Ann in her ninth month.

“A baby?”

 Donnie said in wonder.

“I’m gonna have a baby brother!”

“Or a sister.”

Distracted,

finding it all but impossible to believe.

“But if she’s really gonna have a baby,

Lennie,

how’d it…

How’d the baby get there?”

“You know,”

saying it out loud somehow giving

his conjecturing a bit more credence.

I think that maybe,”

speaking softly again,

“havin’ a baby has somethin’ to do

with what we was just talkin’ ’bout.”

“You mean ’bout guys,”

 cupping his hand over Lennie’s ear,

“f***in’ with girls?”

“Yeah.”

Cupping his hand over Donnie’s ear,

“I think f***in’s got somethin’ to do with

how babies get made.”

Thinking a moment,

“Nah!”

Donnie said loudly.

“It can’t be!”

Turning, both girls looked at him.

Waiting till the girls faced forward again,

“It just can’t be!”

 he repeated.

“Yeah!

Why?

Why can’t it?

How do you know?”

“ ‘Why’?

’Cause, Lennie,”

Donnie said emphatically,

My mom’n’dad would never do stuff like that!”

                               end

©December 15, 2011 / Mark M Lichterman