I thought of Jazz as my beautiful girlfriend. But I never used the word in front of her, or with anyone else, for that matter - except my mother. She would ask me 'How is your girlfriend?', and things like that. So I had to take precautions.
- "Mom, could you do me a small favour tonight?"
- "What's that, dear?" she asked.
- "Could you try not to refer to Jazz as my 'girlfriend'? Just use her name, or ..." I wasn't quite sure how to explain it. "She's just not comfortable with that expression. We don't use it."
My mother looked concerned. "Isn't that a bit odd? I'm sure that she cares for you. What
does
she call your relationship?" Mom saw my confusion, and decided not to press. "I'll try, Dean." she said.
I tried to cover things from the other end, too.
- "Listen," I told Jazz, "please don't get upset if my mother says 'girlfriend'. I tried to explain to her, and I asked her not to use it, but ..."
Jazz's response surprised me. "It's OK, Dean. I don't mind if she says it." That answer should have had me jumping for joy. Jazz was saying that she didn't mind being called my girlfriend! But it was the way she said it. It sounded like she was conceding defeat.
But then she smiled, and touched my cheek. "I like your parents." she said.
Thank goodness for that. This evening was her idea. We were getting together with my folks, and with Les and Lucy, to play Stalag 15. I still couldn't believe that my Mom had agreed to play a board game.
Dad was quiet. Luckily, Les knew my parents well, and had some practice at drawing my Dad out. Lucy was especially nice to them, too, and considerably more outgoing than usual. She had tied her hair back, so that her face was revealed. I wondered if it was for Les' benefit, or my parents. With her pale blue eyes, and her bright red hair, Lucy was a striking girl. Not my type, I hasten to add - but very attractive.
We made Dad Big X, and put him in charge of all the escape plans. Mom was Big Y.
- "Why am I Big Y?" she asked.
- "Chromosomes, Mom." I said.
Luck was with us. The dice were mostly favorable, and the cards we turned were a perfect mix of challenge and good fortune. Dad was over-ambitious: he seemed to be trying to duplicate the Great Escape, going for a mass breakout. The Commandant came within a whisker of discovering our tunnels. But it worked. We got 61 POWs out in a single night, and created chaos for the Germans in Nazi-occupied Western Europe. To cap it all off, five of our POWs achieved homeruns - two made it to neutral Sweden, one to Switzerland, and two made it all the way to Britain, via Spain.
Dad had a blast. He enjoyed himself thoroughly. Mom also had a good time. And my 'girlfriend' laughed and smiled throughout, chatting with my parents as if they had known each other for years.
We finished fairly early that evening. Everyone said their goodbyes to my parents, and I took out the car, to give my friends a ride home.
- "That's OK, Dean." said Les. "We're going to walk home." Lucy nodded.
- "Are you sure?" I asked. They had almost an hour's walk ahead of them.
- "We'll be fine." said Les. It was a beautiful summer night, without a cloud in the sky, and very little humidity.
- "Nice night for a walk." said Jazz. "Enjoy it."
In the car, I thanked her for the evening.
- "For what? I should be thanking you." she said.
- "Thank you for being so nice to my parents. I think my Dad had a great time. And Mom seemed to be into it, too."
- "She was. We all had a good time."
- "And it was largely due to you." I said. "And to Les and Lucy."
- "You give me too much credit." she said, wistfully. "But how about Lucy and Les? A long walk home at midnight? Romantic ..."
When we reached her apartment, I turned the engine off and pulled the keys from the ignition, expecting her to invite me in. I was planning to eat her into submission, partly as a thank you for being so nice to my parents. But Jazz put her hand on my arm.
- "Dean. I'm sorry." she said. "I'm not going to ask you to come in tonight. I have ... some things to do. And my father will be calling me around 2:00 in the morning. He's in Australia, visiting my sister, and doing some business."
- "I could be gone before that." I suggested.
- "But I have other things to do, first. I'm sorry." She put her hand on my leg. "I'll make it up to you. How about tomorrow night? I have a little surprise for you. If you dress up nice, I'll take you out on the town."
- "It's a date." I said. "What kind of surprise?"
She kissed me, and slid out of the car. "What kind of surprise would it be if I told you? Get some sleep, Gamer Boy - you'll be up late tomorrow night."
**************************************************************************
Gerry made me spend two hours working out with him. I came to the conclusion that he was trying to kill himself, or possibly both of us.
- "I'm too young to die." I told him.
- "Gotta lose some weight." he insisted.
- "Then you have to cut down your intake. Working out won't be enough by itself, unless you get on to a good diet, and stick to it."
- "Doing that too." he huffed.
- "Okay." I wouldn't criticize his goal. And he certainly appeared to be motivated.
In the late afternoon, I got ready to go out. Showered, freshly shaved, and wearing a sports jacket, I was ready for whatever she planned to spring on me. Jazz arrived to collect me, in a taxi.
- "We'll both be drinking. Probably a fair bit. Don't want either of us to have to drive later." she explained. Jazz was wearing the black dress she had worn that night we had gone dancing. She looked very classy, and yet supremely desirable. I told her so.
"Flattery? Good start. You look very nice, too." she said.
Our first stop was a little bistro in the downtown core. It was a bit chi-chi, if you know that expression: small portions, artfully presented. Very tasty, but hardly what a hungry man would order. Luckily, I was hungry for something other than food.
We talked through the meal. At the risk of treading where I ought not to, I asked Jazz what she did for money.
- "You always seem to have plenty of it." I said. "I'm not saying that you have expensive tastes, or anything like that, but you're really generous. You're the first one to pick up the tab when we're out with the girls, and I've never seen you show up for a game without a bottle of wine, or something."