The Arcade
Chapter 26

The drive home was cheerful – Joe and Rosie in front quietly talking about how best to accommodate Theo’s transportation needs in the upcoming weeks, and the friends in back gabbling excitedly about the visit, the hospital, getting a mob of his other friends together to visit him at the hospital, and how much fun they were going to have when he finally got home and could D&D, with Bobby wondering aloud if they could get away with that in his hospital room. Holly, being the voice of reason in the group, told him it was doubtful. Cosmo thought it was worth a try. Holly thought he and Bobby were nuts. They agreed with her.

Bobby was the first to be dropped off.

“Well dude, whatcha got planned for mañana?” Bobby asked.

“It’s Saturday, so I’ll probably be doing some yard work. You?”

“I think my dad’s gonna need me down at the shop for a couple of hours, but then I’m clear.”

Joe leaned across Rosie to ask “That reminds me Bobby, how is your dad? I know he’s been swamped at his shop the last couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, he has. He’s pretty tired these days, but he’s okay. I forgot to tell you that he said ‘hello’, and that he sends his best. I meant to say something to Theo’s mom, too.” Bobby replied. “Jeez I got a rotten memory…” he grumbled at himself.

“That’s alright, sweetie,” Rosie soothed “but are you all going to be at Mass on Sunday? If you are, we’ll save your seats for you. I haven’t talked to your mom in a while, and we’ve got some catching up to do.”

“We should be. Mom’s been asking about you, too. She says that with Christmas coming up, she needs to get your recipe for cranberry and chestnut dressing.”

Rosie smiled warmly. “Well then, you tell her I’ll have it with me when we go to Mass. We can all go to lunch afterwards.”

“Gotcha, Mrs. P. I’ll let her know.” Turning back to Cosmo, he said “Alrighty chumps. Gimme a call. Later!” Halfway up the driveway he turned and called out “And thanks for the ride!”

Cosmo and Holly had been sitting in comfortable silence for a while after they had left Bobby’s house, when Holly looked over at Cosmo and said “He really is a spaz, isn’t he?”

“Yeah,” replied Cosmo with a smile “but ya gotta love the guy. He’s like my little brother, and Theo the oldest.”

Holly slipped her right hand into Cosmo’s left hand and said “Lucky me.”

“Why do you say that?” Cosmo asked.

“Because that means that someday I’m gonna have two brother-in-laws.”

Before Cosmo had a chance to answer, Rosie – who apparently hadn’t heard (or had chosen to ignore) what Holly said – turned to announce that they were almost to Holly’s house.

“Okay. Thanks Mrs. P.” Holly chirped

“Will you and your parents be coming to Mass Sunday?” Rosie asked.

“We should.” Holly said. “My dad said he also wanted to talk to you, Mr. P.”

Joe responded “Really?” sounding surprised.

“Yeah,” continued Holly “something about ‘ducking’ him on a rematch at Tall Pines.” ‘Tall Pines’ was the local golf course the two men frequently played together.

Joe chuckled. “Oh is that so? Well, you can let your dad know that I would be glad to – ”

With one eyebrow cocked up she asked “…to what?”

“…to see him Sunday at Mass.” Joe finished.

“Uh-huh. Okay, Mr. P., I’ll let him know.” Leaning toward Cosmo, Holly whispered “Is he that bad at golf?”

Cosmo nodded and whispered back “Can’t hit the inside of a barn.”

She giggled, then gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thanks for ride, Mr. P. It was really great to see Theo.”

Joe smiled and replied “You’re very welcome Holly, and yes it was. Have a good night.”

“Thanks, you too.” Looking back to Cosmo she said “And you – call me tomorrow.”

Still in a state of shock from her earlier comment, “Uh – okay…” was all he could sputter out.

Shutting the car door behind her, Holly walked up the driveway of her house, pausing once to wave back at Cosmo, who returned the wave with a short sideways swipe of his own hand.

They pulled away from the house, and Cosmo heard his father chuckling softly to himself. Rosie looked over at her husband and asked “Have I missed something?”

“I’ll tell ya later, honey.” Joe replied around a chuckle.

A little while later they reached their own house, Joe pulling the Volvo into the driveway. Cosmo was the last one through the front door. As he closed the door behind him, he could already hear the sounds of coffee being readied for brewing: the refrigerator being opened; the coffee can being set on the counter; the carafe being filled with water; the filter being placed in the little drawer on the top of the Mr. Coffee.

Next he heard the sound of the water being poured into the machine that, in just a few moments, would render one of the most wonderful concoctions ever devised by humans. It was also one of his father’s favorite things in the world, and one which – if deprived of for any length of time– made him positively cranky. Right at this moment he understood exactly how his dad felt.

Walking into the kitchen, he slid into the seat at the breakfast nook. His mother was puttering around the kitchen, taking down coffee mugs from the cupboard, checking the sugar bowl, and taking the little carton of half-and-half from the refrigerator.

Joe was sitting across from Cosmo sorting through the day’s mail that had been stuffed through the front door’s mail slot, separating it into piles he had mentally designated as “important,” “worth a once-over,” and “landfill.”

After a few moments, Cosmo spoke. “Dad?”

“Yeah, son?”

“When did you ‘know’?”

Still leafing through the mail, Joe replied “Know what, son?”

“About you and mom.”

At this, Joe stopped shuffling through the mail and actually looked at Cosmo. “Does this have to do with what I think it does?”

Cosmo nodded. “Yeah.”

Rosie came over and set a mug of coffee in front of each of them before returning with her own. Sitting down, she looked at both of them and asked “What about your father and me?”

Joe blew on his coffee and took a sip. “Our son asked when I ‘knew’” – he made quotation marks in the air – “about you and me.”

Rosie snorted around her coffee mug and replied “I think you never would have known if I hadn’t have told you.”

“Told him what?” Cosmo asked.

“Told me I loved her and that we were getting married someday.” Joe finished.

Rosie chuckled, adding “Well, someone had to point it out to you. You weren’t getting all the hints I was throwing out at you, and clearly you weren’t paying attention to your mother, either.”

Cosmo took a sip of his coffee and asked “What did Gran have to say about it? Was she for it, too?”

“Your grandmother all but had the date picked out for us…” Joe said

“…and she wasn’t far off the mark at that – was she, sweetheart?” Rosie finished.

“Nope –” Joe replied “She was only off by one month – and your mom and I did that just to spite her.” He finished with a chuckle.

“She always suspected that, you know.” Rosie said. “You always denied it – but she swore nonetheless that we changed the date just to prove a point.”

“Um, guys?” Cosmo interrupted. “My question?”

“Oh – right.” Joe cleared his throat. “Well, it’s like this – I was an idiot when it came to women.”

“Was?” Rosie chimed in.

Casting a brief glare at her over his cup, Joe continued. “So when it appeared to everyone that I was dragging my feet when it came to your mother, she took it upon herself to inform me that we were going to be married. We were both in college at the time, so I took it to mean that she was referring to some point after graduation. Apparently I misunderstood.”

Rosie started to giggle, and said “You should have seen his face when I told him what day and at what time he needed to be at the church. It never even occurred to him that I had already sent out the invitations.”

Cosmo looked from her to his father. “You’re kidding – right?”

Joe shook his head sadly and replied “S’all true, son. Sad, but true. I was shanghaied by your mother.”

Rosie swatted the back of Joe’s head and said “It isn’t as though it was a complete shock to him. He’d already proposed to me – sort of.”

Now Cosmo’s eyebrows notched up. “Sort of?”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Joe looked at his wife and said “Yeah, honey – tell him how I ‘sort of’ proposed to you.”

At this, Rosie began to fidget with her coffee mug before saying “Well, we were walking down the street one evening after dinner – your dad had taken me out on a date to this nice little Italian restaurant – and as we were walking, we passed a woman’s dress shop.”

Cosmo looked at her “And…?”

“In the window of the dress shop was a manikin wearing a wedding dress. I didn’t say anything at first, but after a moment I said ‘My that’s a beautiful wedding gown.’ Your dad looked at me, then back to the dress and said…” Here she motioned to Joe to finish the sentence.

“Yeah, but I bet it would look a whole lot better on you than on that manikin.” Joe said.

Cosmo looked at his mother and smiled. “And you took that as a proposal? That’s hilarious!” Looking at his dad he said “You poor guy. You never had a chance.”

Looking at her husband fondly, she said “No, he didn’t.”

Cosmo let the moment hang for a few heartbeats before clearing his throat and saying “Earth to parents…we were discussing my problem here – not taking a stroll down ‘Amnesia Lane.’ Dad?”

Joe looked at Cosmo and, taking a sip of his coffee, asked “Well, here’s the question you need to ask yourself, son – how do you feel about her? It’s plain to see how she feels about you, and clearly she has made her wishes known. What’s important is what you think about it all.”

Taking another sip of coffee, he continued “The fact of the matter is, you still have a couple of years left in high school, and then – presuming you plan on going to college – another four years. Have you thought about where you plan to go to college?”

Rosie held up her hand to interrupt. “Wait just a minute. Let’s back that bus up a couple of houses. What ‘wishes’ has Holly made known?”

Joe sniggered into his coffee. “She’s already staked her claim on our boy, and I don’t just mean for the senior prom. She wants him for keeps.”

Rosie’s eyes went wide at what Joe had said without actually saying it. “My heavens Joe, that young lady is only what – fifteen?” Looking at her son, she asked “What kind of sweet-talker are you? Even your father wasn’t that smooth!”

Cosmo sighed and shook his head. “Neither of you are really doing much to help me figure this out.”

Joe leaned across the table and patted Cosmo’s arm. “I’m sorry son, you’re right – we’re not helping. But here’s the thing – it really boils down to what you want, and how it fits into your plans for yourself. All the advice your mom or I could give you would come from our experiences, and might not be really relative to you.”

“What your father’s trying to say is that you need to follow your heart, but use your head, too.” Rosie added.

Cosmo nodded, and sipped his coffee in silence.

Joe reached across the little table and patted Cosmo on the arm. “We’ll talk later, buddy – okay?”

Cosmo looked up and smiled. “Sure, pop.”

At this point Rosie got up from the table and said “Well, if there’s to be any supper tonight, I suppose I should get started on it. I think I’m going to try out Vita’s ‘Alfredo’ recipe.” Looking at Joe, she said “Would you mind assisting me, sir? I’ll need your strong hands to grate cheese and chop shallots.”

With a grin, Joe replied “Not at all, my love – not at all.”

Cosmo smiled himself. Shaking his head, he said “Okay then, dad – I’ll leave you and ‘Julia Child’ alone so you can do your thing. I’m gonna go upstairs and wash up.”

Joe looked over his shoulder from the refrigerator where he was rummaging around, and replied “Alrighty then. See you in about an hour.”

Leaving his parents to enjoy each other’s company, he headed upstairs. Still smiling, it occurred to him that – as an adult – he never thought of his parents as having this kind of marriage. His memories of his childhood did not include scenes such as the one below in the kitchen. Why? Why had it taken his returning in time to see the love and warmth that existed in his family? Had it always been there, and he simply missed it? More questions for Sal, he told himself.

He went into the bathroom to wash his face and hands. After turning the porcelain handles to adjust the water temperature, he took the bar of Dial and began to lather it up. He placed the soap back into the soap dish and began to scrub his face. After a few moments of this, and a thorough rinse (he hated soap in his eyes), he blindly reached for the hand towel hanging from its place next to the sink. When the towel came away from his face, he looked up to see his reflection – and Sal’s – in the mirror.

“WHOA!” Cosmo yelped. Still facing the mirror, he said, “Why do you keep doing that to me? Do you get some kind of amusement out of scaring the bejeezus out of people – or just me in particular?”

“Well, you do seem to jump the highest” Sal said with a grin.

Cosmo sighed and shook his head. “Whaddya doin’ here, Sal? We’re gonna be having dinner soon.”

“Don’t worry, sonny, don’t worry. I just thought I’d drop in to ask after Theo. How’s the boy doing?”

Cosmo hung up the towel and, closing the bathroom door, turned to Sal. “Well, he seemed in pretty good spirits. His arm and leg were in casts, and his leg was in traction – but other than that, he was okay, I guess.”

Sal nodded with satisfaction. “Good, good.”

“Hey – shouldn’t you already know that? You’re an angel.” Cosmo asked.

“I’m an angel, sonny – not God. Only He can be all places at all times. As created beings, we – angels, that is – are subject to most of the same laws of physics as you. Yes, we are endowed with certain powers – but they are an extension of The Creator’s Will, and we are the conduits for that Will.”

“Huh,” replied Cosmo. “That sure wasn’t covered in catechism. Interesting to know, though. So – are we still on for tomorrow after Mass?”

Sal nodded his head. “Yep.”

Cosmo turned to open the bathroom door. “Okay. Just remember that my dad is counting on you to be there, so don’t decide to pop out at the last minute, okay?”

There was no answer.

Cosmo didn’t even bother to turn around. He knew Sal was already gone – as usual.

“I’m never gonna get used to that…” Cosmo said with a sigh. Turning out the bathroom light, he headed down the stairs to have dinner with his parents.