I grew up in Brooklyn, in a mostly Jewish neighborhood, growing up with my mother, father and brother, and also with a lot of my father's family nearby. We owned a row house with the garage at the bottom of a driveway, under the house, and it was attached to other houses on each side. It was a tight knit community, most of the families Reformed Jews. We didn't wear yarmulkes, most didn't observe the sabbath on Saturday, we went to temple pretty much on the holy days only or for family occasions. It was a close neighborhood, though. And my father and most of his brothers and sisters and their families all lived within a couple of blocks.
So let me introduce my family, at least those that matter here. I'm Rob, Robbie to my family, immediate and extended. My mom was Helen, dad was Marty and my younger brother was Alan. In the summer of '79 I was 18 and heading off to college. My father owned a small, very profitable newsstand in a busy office building in mid-town Manhattan. Highly profitable, but long hours. But he didn't have to work weekends at least. Mom was a homemaker most of my childhood (back when many families could survive on a single income). My cousins who lived in the neighborhood were all girls, and older than me, much older. Natalie and Karen were both married by the time I was 5, my cousin Susan by the time I was 10, and my cousin Cheryl by my 15th birthday. She was closest to my age, and she was 9 years older. This story is primarily about my cousin Cheryl.
A little background first. Natalie and Karen were very pretty women, and we were close in a family manner, but they were more than 20 years older than I am, so we didn't have a personal relationship. Susan was...well, Susan was frumpy. Nice enough, but a little odd, so I really didn't know her that well, but her husband Paul was a really nice guy. And then there was my cousin Cheryl.
Cheryl was, as we used to say in the 70s, a stone fox. She was about 5'3", brunette, short hair parted on the side, and had the most beautiful face. I slightly wide nose, full lips, and eyes that were almost almond shaped naturally, though not Asian, and widened to appear doe-eyed when surprised. And her body. Petite and curvy, with these amazing breasts, full and round. I have a picture of her at my Bar Mitzvah in a black, very low cut gown with spaghetti straps that showed an incredible amount of cleavage. She had a light blue boa around her shoulders which just made her even sexier. I shouldn't have looked at my cousin the way I did, but my hormones were kflowing, and objectively, she was a walking wet dream.
Cheryl and I saw a lot of each other. Her mom, my dad's older sister by 12 years, died when I was a baby and she was 10. Her father, a decent man, was a non-entity in a number of ways. He remarried a couple of years later, when Cheryl was 13, and her step mother was a real bitch to her. So Cheryl spent a lot of time at our house. My parents, being much younger than the rest of their generation of the family (my dad was the youngest of 6, and there was a 16 years spread oldest to youngest), were easy for Cheryl to talk to, especially my mom, who was 12 years younger than my dad. I know, a lot of numbers there, but I think everyone gets the idea.
So by the time I was noticing girls, about 11-12, Cheryl was about 20, and looking fabulous. We'd go to the beach, my family, and she'd join us, and the sight of her in a small bikini had me with an involuntary erection. I couldn't keep my eyes off her. And it wasn't just at the beach. Anywhere, any time, I would stare as much as I could. She'd catch me sometimes and I'd turn away quickly, but I knew she noticed. Then she got married when I was 15 and she and her husband, Mark, moved to New Jersey, and suddenly I rarely saw my favorite cousin and inspiration for jerking off to powerful orgasms.
A word or two now about my immediate family.
My parents were good people, tried to raise my brother and I to be good, honest men. I wasn't very athletic, though I played roller hockey and touch-tackle football. I liked baseball, but was terrible playing, even softball. And I hated basketball, very unusual in Brooklyn, even for white guys. One thing I was (and am), I was smart. I loved reading, devouring books on all sorts of subjects, but my favorite was science, specifically astronomy. I loved reading books about the universe and theories about its beginnings, and the mathematics behind it all didn't intimidate me. I was an almost straight A student and had a 1560 SATs score. I was off to University of Virginia at the end of August on a full scholarship. Everything was great at home. Almost.
My brother Alan was causing all sorts of problems. He had been this way since childhood. If there was a way to cause trouble, Alan always found it. He liked to light matches as a child. He bullied smaller children. He cheated in any game or sport he competed in. He got caught shoplifting small things on numerous occasions. He was disrespectful to almost everyone, including our parents. And now, this June, just a couple of weeks before my graduation, he'd gotten a girl from a "good" family, as we used to say, pregnant.
I was pissed at him. I tried over the years to be a good big brother to him, but Alan just didn't care. Now, instead of this being a great moment for my family, my graduating fourth in my class, national honor society and getting ready to move away to college, my parents were in a deep funk over my brother, his becoming a father at 17, and his prospects, or lack thereof, for his future. Marriage was not going to happen, thankfully. But he was going to be expected to help raise and support his child, and he really wasn't interested. He really didn't care.
Even more infuriating for me, on a personal level, was the fact that my brother, younger by almost 2 years, was obviously not a virgin, but I was. I dated some, had had a serious girlfriend for a few months the previous year, but I hadn't popped my cherry. I could have. A couple of friends who had been getting laid for a while offered to fix me up with their girlfriends not selective friends, but I really wanted it to be special, not just a fuck with a stranger. My sensitive side was running, and ruining, my sex life.
I talked to Alan one Saturday afternoon. "Alan, talk to me, please? What's going on with you? Why can't you get your shit together? You know you're breaking mom and dad's hearts. More important, you're ruining you future."
"What do you give a shit, Robbie? You're leaving in a couple of months. Mom and dad's perfect boy. Straight A student, never been in trouble, never rock the boat. Have you ever gotten drunk, high, anything?"
"Yeah. I've had beers with my friends. I'm 18, nothing wrong with it."
"What about when you were underage? Did you ever break the rules?"
I was silent. I had a couple of beers one night a week before I turned 18, but that was it. I never smoked a joint, and certainly nothing like coke or anything.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Goody fucking two shoes. Never even smoked a cigarette, let alone a joint, right? Probably still a fucking virgin, too."
He was taunting me, and it was working. I stormed out of his room. He was right, I always followed the rules. I couldn't help it, that's just who I was. We couldn't be more different as people. I couldn't help him, and he couldn't hear me.
I had planned to spend the summer working in dad's store, let him get a bit of a break. A couple of days before graduation, my parents gave me my gift, an electric typewriter. Some of you might not know what that is anymore, but they were a big deal for a soon to be college student who would be writing papers constantly. It wasn't a car, but it was something I definitely needed.
"Robbie, we need to tell you something" my mom said.
"Ok, mom, dad. What's up?"
"Alan is going to join the Navy in August. It was his idea. Your father and I are not happy about it, and we could stop him for a year, until he turns 18. But he'll just resent us more than he already does, the next year will be hellish, and we'll be at each others throats. He says if we allow him to go, he'll arrange for most of his pay to be used as child support. I don't know, maybe the Navy will straighten him out."
