By 12:45 the tables were set and people were starting to congregate. I was slicing roast beast as fast as my little fingers could go. On my own I used an electric carving knife, but here I used a big chef’s knife. Meanwhile Arnie had the main counter lined with serving plates and bowls, and he and Marilyn were slopping beans and biscuits and gravy out. At five minutes of, cries of “Food! Food!” were sounding in the dining room, and we could hear the thumping of fists on the tables. I just grinned at the others as we started portioning out the roast beef onto serving plates. We actually got done with about ninety seconds to spare, by which time the hue and cry was thunderous. I looked at my watch as the grinning waiters picked up their plates, and as the second hand hit the 12, I flashed my hand down and sent them on their way. I leaned back against the counter and grinned at Marilyn. “Some fun, huh?”
She gave me an exhausted look. “I think I need a raise!”
“I’d make a smartass comment about the type of raise you’re going to get, but I’m too tired,” I admitted. I pushed her towards the dining room, where I had reserved her a seat near the kitchen, next to my roommate. “Sit. Eat. Rest!”
Bradley looked at me as I leaned in the kitchen door next to Marilyn. “What’s in the gravy?” he asked.
“You like it?”
He nodded. “Yeah!”
“I added some beef broth, garlic, and horseradish. The horseradish is what gives it the extra kick. That’s on the beef as well.”
“It’s good!”
“What’d you do to the green beans?” asked Boris.
“Added some onions and cilantro.”
He made a funny face. “I hate green beans.”
Then why ask? I just shrugged. Everybody else was stuffing it in as fast as they could, and waiters were starting to head for the kitchen for seconds. I followed them in and sent out some more food.
About ten minutes later, the calls for dessert started, and I had the waiters send out the trays of plates with cake on them. As I knew would happen, there were immediate cries for ‘Foo! Foo’, done in a high falsetto voice. I also knew that Arnie would clamp down on it. He jumped up and yelled back, “No, you don’t get Foo, not after last week! No more Foo until you learn to behave yourselves!” Last Sunday the dessert was Jell-O and Foo, and had resulted in a Foo Fight at the end. In fact, it was about even odds that when Foo was served, a Foo Fight would ensue.
I grabbed a clean plate from the pantry and loaded it up with some food and took Bradley’s seat, and had some supper while Marilyn dawdled over her cake. Arnie came in with a slice of ton cake and sat down across from me. “So, you want in the rotation?” he asked.
I smiled. “So, I passed the audition?”
“You passed.” I grinned over at Marilyn, who grinned back at me. “You want cash or do you want me to put it against your bar bill?”
“Put it against my bar bill.”
“Where’s my cut?!” asked Marilyn. She held her hand out, palm up, and twiddled her fingers.
“Considering what I should be charging you for lessons, I thought we’d call it even.”
“Lessons? Think again!”
“True. A gentleman never charges a lady.” Arnie snorted at that and stood up. I simply pulled out my wallet and handed Marilyn a ten. “Keep the change. I’ll take it in trade later.”
“Not if you have that attitude!” Still, she was smiling as she said it.
“Go clean up before you go home. I’d offer to wash your back for you, but I’d rather just take a nap.” We headed upstairs while the dishwashing crew took over. Marilyn cleaned up, and I dozed in my armchair at my desk. When she came back from a second shower, I carried her bags out to her car and kissed her good-bye. I would see her in another couple of weeks.
And so it went for the rest of the semester. I went back to Utica in two weeks, and Marilyn visited the frat house two weeks after that. In Utica I was becoming a fixture. Mark kept trying to needle me, but Marilyn kept me calm, and then really ripped him a new asshole one night at the dinner table, during the early November visit. For Thanksgiving, I planned to spend the holiday weekend in Utica with the Lefleurs, much to the disappointment of any frat brothers staying over.
I was worried about what would occur when Harriet and Big Bob found out I was estranged from my family. I dodged that bullet when they asked about it that first weekend in November, simply stating it was too far to travel. They nodded in understanding at that, since it was at least 300 miles away. For Thanksgiving I would drive over to Utica Wednesday morning and stay until Sunday, my longest visit yet.
The house was extra cramped that weekend. I was in my usual spot in the library, but Marilyn had a roommate, too, her Aunt Lynette, who was visiting and sleeping in the same room as the only other adult female. She was Big Bob’s baby sister, and only about ten years older than Marilyn and me. She worked in the admissions office at Plattsburgh State. She was the person who Marilyn was named after, sort of. She was a spinster, in that she never married, and as far as I ever knew, never had any romantic inclinations.
She was a little pistol, though, and I do mean little. Lynette was maybe 5’1" tall, if she was standing straight and thinking tall thoughts. One of the rules was that the little kids couldn’t think of themselves as “big” until they were as tall as one of the grownups, so they all looked forward to getting as tall as Aunt Lynette and being “big”. She got off the hook a generation later, when Peter married a blazingly hot redheaded Irish girl who was only 4’11" tall. Suddenly you had all these nine and ten year old nephews and nieces and grandkids who were “big”. You simply had to laugh at it all.
One interesting thing was announced. Harriet was pregnant with number 11, who was expected in the late spring. I don’t think a year would pass between Peter and Paul. If nothing else, Harriet and Big Bob had figured out the mathematics of being fruitful and multiplying!
Wednesday went okay, pretty much like my other two visits. Marilyn and I went out to dinner and then she tucked me into bed later, before sneaking up to her room a couple of hours later. Both of us were smiling when she left the library.
The plan for Thursday was to just hang out with the family, watch football in the afternoon, and then suffer through a Lefleur Thanksgiving dinner. Maybe Marilyn could pour a lot of booze into me before dinner. The morning started off fine, and football was okay. I’m not a big fan, but Marilyn’s brothers certainly were. For me, while I was always a big fan of the Baltimore Colts, I already knew that they were going to move in a few years to Indianapolis and that just ruined football for me in the future, and for me, that meant now. Tenses get weird with this back to the future shit.
So while the day had started fine, things changed during dinner. Dinner did not go well, not well at all. In fact it was an absolute catastrophic disaster! We were all seated at the dining room table, all except the little kids who were either at the bar or in high chairs. Marilyn was across from me and Lynette was next to me, and since we were the oldest, we were down next to Big Bob and Harriet. “So, Carling, where do you go to school?” asked Lynette.
“RPI.”
“Oh, that’s a good school! What are you studying?”
“I’m taking mathematics,” I answered.
“Really! What kind of degree is that?” she continued.
Marilyn popped in at that. “Carl’s working on his doctorate.” She looked over at me. “Isn’t that right? You’re working on your PhD?”
Suddenly it felt like the whole room was staring at me. I nodded. “Technically I don’t start until next semester, but I’ve already started working with Professor Rhineburg, and he’s agreed to be my thesis adviser.”