_____________________________________________________________________________________ Embarrassed because he got sick, embarrassed because Frank and Lisa had seen him naked, and embarrassed because he had to walk through the apartment wearing nothing but a towel, but most of all because he’d screwed up his first opportunity with a girl, Mitchell said, “Whew! I guess it was just too much wine.” Smiling wanly, he went into the bedroom, closed the door and, with the exception of his shoes and socks, which he carried in his hand, came out a minute later fully dressed.

The others watched as, feeling self-conscious, walking across the room, sitting on the chair near the window, putting his shoes and socks on, he said, “Sorry, I got sick in your room, Lisa.”

“Nah, it’s our fault for letting you drink that much wine.”

“Yeah,” Gina added. “We should’a known you was drinkin’ too much.”

 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

                               CAREFUL, SOME ROUGH LANGUAGE HERE

Chicago, Illinois

June 18, 1949

Still able to taste bitter bile and secondhand wine, his stomach queasy, his throat hurting from the force of vomiting, looking at Gina, Do I even want to be alone with her again? he wondered. But also, he had a dull, pleasant sensation in his testicles that reminded him, even feeling as bad as he felt, of the unbelievably strong climax that she had been able to wrench from him just by using her hand. And, If that felt that good, wonder what it would have felt like if I’d gotten into her? But yet, as much as he no longer wanted to be a virgin, as much as he no longer wanted to be “cherry,” as much as he did want to get fucked, seeing Gina, now, sober, he could not imagine that just a few minutes ago they’d actually been lying on a bed together, naked, with his finger in her and her hand about him. Just thinking about it, Mitchell felt a tightening in his crotch… along with a spasm of nausea.

“Mitchie,” breaking into his thoughts, “you don’t look so hot. How’s ’bout some soda crackers?”

Looking at Gina, “Soda crackers?”

“Yeah! Whenever I don’t feel so hot I eat soda crackers an’ pretty soon my stomach starts feelin’ better.”

“No, thanks.” The thought of even crackers accentuating his nausea, “I’ll be fine.”

Standing, “I’m gonna get’j’ya some anyway.” Going into the kitchen, Gina returned in a minute with a small stack of soda crackers on a saucer and a glass of seltzer water. “Here.” Setting the glass and saucer on the coffee table, “Come on over here.” Sitting on the sofa, she patted the seat next to her.

Mitchell did not move.

“Jesus Christ!” Gina said. “Will you stop bein’ such a god-damned baby an’ come over here an’ eat the god-damned crackers!” Patting the seat again, “Come on now!”

Forcing a smile, “Okay, mother.” Obediently crossing the room, he sat next to her.

Rubbing his knee, “That’s a good boy.” Gina left her hand there.

“So,” Frank asked, “what are we doin’ tonight?”

“I really feel like going to a movie, Frankie. Why don’t we just see what’s playing and if there’s nothing good, then we’ll go over to Gina’s and, you know, hang out.”

Looking from Lisa to Gina to Mitchell, “S’okay with them, s’okay with me.”

“Yeah, let’s see what’s around.” Gina said. “My ol’ lady’s got the late shift tonight, so’s if we get to an’ early show, we can still go up to my place after it’s over for a while.”

His mouth full of cracker, Mitchell washed it down with a gulp of seltzer, but before he could reply…

“Okay, it’s settled, then,” Frank said. “If there’s a good one around, we’ll go to the movies.”

Standing, “I’ll get the paper.” Going into the kitchen, returning a moment later with the Sun-Times, Lisa sat alongside of Gina.

Lifting himself from the floor, squeezing between the girls, Frank moved the milk bottle and glasses aside.

Laying the paper on the coffee table, Lisa ruffled through the pages until she found the movie section.

Her hand still on his knee, “Feelin’ better, babe?” Rubbing his thigh, Gina’s thumb, “accidentally,” nonchalantly grazed the material directly beneath the fly, in the crook of his crotch.

Looking at her hand, swallowing, “Yeah, a little.” he said honestly.

“Hey, here’s one I’ve been wanting to see!” Lisa looked up from the paper. “It’s at the Trovili; The Yearling! I’ve been wanting to see it since I first heard they were making a movie of it! I read the book and cried like a baby. Let’s go there!”

Mitchell did not want to go anyplace with Gina, except, possibly, back to a bedroom, and now that he was somewhat sober, was not really too sure about that. “Uh, what’s it about?” he asked.

“This little boy lives in the mountains with his mom’n’dad, and they’re so poor, and the little kid’s only got one good friend that’s real sick so he can’t really play with him, and then he finds this baby deer, and…”

“Okay, okay! It sounds good. What’s it playin’ with?”

“Nothing.”

“It’s a single feature?” Being against his principles, he never went to see a single-feature movie… But that also meant an hour and a half less to be seen with Gina, and an hour and a half sooner till he would be able to get back into a bed with her, That’s if I really want to get back into a bed with her. He looked at her hand again, and, as he looked, Gina’s thumb moved a fraction, touching the tip of his penis over the worn material of his jeans, giving, if you will, a preview of coming attractions, and… “Yeah! Okay! Let’s go see The Yearling.”

“Okay, it’s settled, then,” Frank said. “When should we pick you two up? What time’s it start?”

“Best time’s, uh…” Lisa looked at the paper. “Quarter to eight.”

“Okay. We’ll pick you up… Where? Here? At seven.”

“Yeah, Frankie, that’s fine… Seven okay with you, Gina?”

“Yeah, s’okay with me.” Draping her arm across Mitchell’s shoulders, “An’ don’t you go drinkin’ no more vino!”

“You don’t have to worry ’bout that, Gina. I ain’t never gonna drink wine again!”

Walking north on Rockwell, “How much money you got?” Frank asked. “You got enough for movies an’ somethin’ to eat after?”

“Yeah, I got about six bucks… An’ what’d’ya mean, ‘eat after’? I gotta go someplace to eat with her?”

“Yeah! You ‘gotta go someplace to eat with her’ after the movie! Four, five bucks should be plenty. Let’s see, you’re kind’a big, an’ they’ll probably want you to pay adult.”

“Adult! I ain’t even going to be fifteen for another two months!”

“Yeah? Well, Mitch, if you wanna be cheap an’ try provin’ you’re not sixteen, then all’s you gotta do is convince the broad sellin’ the tickets. But remember, Gina is sixteen!”

“But I ain’t!” he said belligerently. “So why should I pay more then I’m supposed to?”

“Do what’j’ya want, Mitch, but that means standin’ in line with the girls there tryin’ to convince the ticket broad that you’re a baby. An’ babies only suck on titties, an’ they don’t get fucked! Know what I mean?”

Knowing Frank was right, also remembering the heated discussion his father had with the ticket man when they went to the circus. “Yeah,” he said frowning, “okay, already! So I’ll pay adult!”

“Okay, let’s see,” Frank began to figure. “Adult tickets,” glancing at Mitchell, “are a buck each, An’ you’n’Gina can share a box’a popcorn…”

“No, I want my own popcorn!” Often, if he had the money, he’d buy a second box of popcorn. Besides, I don’t want Gina’s hands anywhere near anything I’m going to put in my mouth.

“Okay, so two boxes’a popcorn’ll be fifty cents. An’ knowin’ you, you’ll want a box’ a candy, an’ if you get one you’ll have to offer to buy her one, too, so that’ll be another twenty cents. So let’s see…” Ticking the purchases off on his fingers, “Admission, popcorn and candy for the two’a’ya’ll be, uh, two-seventy. An’ after the movie we’ll go to… You like hamburgers, don’t’j’ya? Shit, Lipensky, you like anything so long as you can eat it before it eats you. Okay! How’s ’bout we go to White Castle?”

“Why do we have to go anyplace after the movie? Why can’t we just go back to Gina’s? Because, you know, I got sick before her’n’me were able to, uh…”

“Fuck!” Frank said wearily, as though speaking to a child.

Mitchell smiled. “Yeah, fuck!” Then frowned. “Frankie, I really don’t wanna take her out.”

Misunderstanding his motive, “Yeah! You gotta take her out to eat! Don’t be such a cheapskate, Mitch. A date’s a date!”

“It ain’t the money!”

“Yeah? What’s it, then?”

“Frank, Gina is so…”

“Yeah? She’s ‘so’ what?”

“Frank,” he asked in amazement, “can’t’j’ya see? She’s so ugly, an’ looks so dirty!”

“Well, okay. But so what? An’ besides, she ain’t all that ugly, an’ she’ll be cleaned up for tonight, and won’t look so bad. You’ll see, Mitch. You’ll like her much more tonight.”

“Frank, tell me! Would you like to be seen out with her?”

“Yeah, sure! Me’n’her used to date. How do you think I met Lisa?”

“You went out with her? To movies an’ stuff?”

“I tol’j’ya, yeah! You’ll see. Every guy that knows her an’ sees the two’a you together’ll be jealous of you.”

Unable to believe what Frank was saying, “Why?”

“Why? You dope! ’Cause she puts out, that’s why! Didn’t’j’ya have a good time with her in Lisa’s bedroom?”

“Well, yeah,” he said begrudgingly, “before I got sick, yeah, sure I did, but…”

“Don’t be such a dumb shit, Lipensky. Gina fucks!”

“Yeah! Okay! So she fucks, but she’s so ugly!”

“So what? So you’n’her fuck in a dark room an’ you don’t gotta see her face.”

“She’s got a dirty neck.”

“Like I said, screw in a dark room an’ you won’t see her neck either. But like I said, she’ll look different tonight.”

“Why? She gonna wear a mask?”

“You’ll see. I know Gina, an’ she’ll look nice tonight.”

“Yeah? That I gotta see… An’ her ears are dirty.”

“So? So don’t fuck her in the ear.” Thinking this very funny, Frank began to laugh.

It was the laughter Mitchell remembered, Frank’s laughter, and up until then he hadn’t fully realized how much he had missed it and, his serious expression changing, raucous laughter came painfully from his throat—still sore from vomiting. “An’ worst of all! The baddest thing about her,” forcing himself to stop laughing, “are her teeth! Shit, Frankie, who’s got green teeth?”

His expression suddenly serious, Frank stopped laughing. “Now, Mitch, now you may have a problem!”

The smile fading from his face, “Why,” Mitchell asked, “would I have a problem now? I ain’t gonna fuck her in the mouth!”

“Yeah?” Frank said. “We’ll see about that.”