(Author's Note: This is the third story in a series. This series is based on characters and situations introduced in two novel-length series of stories: Camp Torowa Falls and Camp Torowa Falls 1964.
This is a continuation of Camp Torowa Falls 1965, which began with Chapter 1: Architects of Disaster. For best results you should read the preceeding chapters of CTF65 first.)
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Corey's father left the house very early on Saturday morning to play a round of golf with some friends . Although Corey was still resisting learning the game, he was beginning to have second thoughts. Dad had told Corey that the Navy actually has golf courses on or near many of their larger bases, and that a lot of internal Navy politics gets hashed out by foursomes of officers playing those courses.

Corey was alarmed by the concept of there being political aspects to serving as a naval officer. But his father assured him that politics are always involved when people work together, even in the insurance company office where he worked. This was yet another piece of information that forced Corey to the sad conclusion that there was far more to being an adult and having a professional career than he had imagined.

"Good morning, sleepy head," said Corey, as his musings were interrupted by the late-rising Jerry.

"Give me a break," grumbled Jerry as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes. "You always get up earlier than I do."

"True," said Corey, who was already dressed for the day and sitting at his desk, "but you really slept in this morning. It's nearly 7:30 AM."

"Urrrrr," grunted Jerry. "The last few days have been very weird and kind of disturbing. I think that justifies me sleeping in a day or two."

"Sure," said Corey. "Except that you had trouble getting to sleep last night."

"Well, yeah," said Jerry, "and you didn't?"

"Not really," said Corey. He had actually lain awake in bed a bit longer than usual the previous night, but that happened sometimes when the day gave him a lot to think about.

"Does anything ever faze you?" said Jerry. "On Wednesday we got our asses whipped twice and basically bankrupted for something that wasn't really our fault. You nearly died at the dinner table Thursday night, and I won't even mention yesterday."

"You're right, of course," said Corey. "This has been a very weird and at least somewhat disturbing week. But what do you want me to do about it?"

"I dunno," said Jerry. "How about reacting in some way when things go seriously haywire in your life?"

Corey sighed and realized it was time for another pep talk. He prayed that he was up to the task of delivering it. "Jerry, you and I are both preparing ourselves to one day become career commissioned officers in the Sea Services of the United States of America, right?"

"Yes, of course," said Jerry. "But we're not officers yet! We're only 14-years-old, for heaven's sake!"

"Yeah, we're still very young," said Corey, "But we're only four years away from entering the Naval Academy, which is not really very long."

"So?" said Jerry. "Does that mean we have to act like marble statues who never react to anything?"

"No, but it does mean that we have to learn to take certain things in stride. Do you really think that everything will always go according to plan when you're serving in the Marine Corps?"

"Well, no."

"That's right," said Corey. "Shit definitely happens, both in training and in combat. The same goes for the Navy. As officers our jobs will be to deal with the crazy shit that is happening in the best way possible to keep our people, our commands, and our country safe. Later on we might have the luxury of sitting around and shaking our heads in wonder at the unlikely stuff we had to deal with. But when the shit is actually hitting the fan it could go on for days... perhaps many days or even weeks. We will just have to suck it up and deal with any threats as they present themselves. Opportunities to sleep, much less sleep in, during those crazy times will likely be very rare."

"Okay, point taken," said Jerry. He paused while putting on his bermuda shorts. "To be honest, I think there might be something wrong with me."

"Really?" said Corey, who was suddenly concerned for his best friend. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not sure. For some reason I seem to be sleeping in a lot lately, and I seem to get tired lots of times when it didn't happen before."

"Has this happened at home, too?" said Corey. "Or just since you got here?"

"No, I first noticed it a few months ago back home so it has nothing to do with anything that has happened here."

"Hmm," said Corey. "The weird thing is that I too seem to be getting tired more easily and deeply than I used to when I was younger. What are the odds that is happening to both of us?"

"So you have slept in sometimes?"

"Not often, no," said Corey. "I guess sleeping in just isn't in my nature. But I have been going to bed earlier than I used to a lot of nights recently, which basically amounts to the same thing. I seem to need more sleep as I get older. I wonder what's wrong with us?"

"I dunno," said Jerry. "Maybe we could ask the doctor when we go in for our camp physicals?"

"Yeah, I guess. Pediatricians treat tons of teenagers, so if there is some sleep-related condition that happens to people our age, a pediatrician should be able to diagnose it."

Jerry frowned. "I just hope we don't have some exotic disease or condition that will keep us from joining the military."

"Good Christ!" said Corey, who was horrified at the very idea. "Don't even think about something like that!"

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At breakfast Mom informed the boys that they needed haircuts and she gave them money to go to the barber. Later, as they walked home from the barbershop Corey said, "I noticed you used the phrase 'To be honest' earlier when were talking up in our room."

"Yeah..."

"Well, my Uncle Phillip - my Dad's oldest brother - always tells us not to use that phrase."

"Why?" said Jerry, a puzzled expression on his face.

"Because," said Corey, "it could imply that you're not being honest the rest of the time."

"Really?" said Jerry. "I thought it was a common English expression."

"Oh sure, it's a common expression all right. But that doesn't mean that people can't take it the wrong way."

"They can't take it the wrong way if they speak English," said Jerry.

"There's the rub," said Corey. "As officers we will have fairly regular contact with people who are non-native speakers of English. Some of those people might not have heard of that expression and get the very wrong idea about us, about our service, and about our country."

"Okay," said Jerry. "I see your point. I never thought of it that way before. Did you come up with this stuff on your own?"

"Good Lord, no!" said Corey. "Like I said, Uncle Phillip always tells us not to use that expression and so most of the Lanes don't. You'll never hear my Dad say it."

"I guess that's true, I haven't," said Jerry. "Wait, I'm pretty sure I've heard Becky use it."

"Well, yeah. Becky's crazy, plus when it comes to language things like that she generally takes after our Mom, not our Dad. Mom uses the expression sometimes, though I think she tries not to use it in front of Dad, and for sure not in front of Dad's relatives."

"To be honest," said Jerry with a big grin on his face, "when I asked that question I was talking about all that non-native speaker stuff. Did you think of that yourself?"

"Nope," said Corey. "I discussed it with Dad a couple years ago, and he's the one who mentioned that to me. Even though naval officers spend most of their 'at sea' time actually sailing out on the ocean, the ships do occasionally visit foreign ports of call. When you go ashore in those places you are interacting with people from other cultures. A lot of those people will be non-native speakers of English."

"Fair enough," said Jerry. "But here is one last question on this subject. What do you say instead of 'to be honest'?"

"Oh, we say 'Frankly', which is shorter and means the same thing."

"So I guess 'Frankly' is less likely to be misinterpreted."

"Yep," said Corey, grinning. "Unless you run into people speaking some weird language where 'frankly' means something horrible."

The two friends shared a laugh as they walked up the steps from the sidewalk along Monroe Avenue and entered the front door of the Lane home.

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Dad was home in time for a late lunch. Since the Lane family kitchen was tied up with picnic preparations all day Dad brought home pizza from Filetti's down the street. As the food was being finished off the boys were informed by Dad that he and Mom wanted to meet with them in the office immediately after lunch was cleared away.

The two friends had no opportunity for a private conversation before that meeting, but Corey could tell that Jerry seemed as nervous as he felt. What the hell had gone wrong now? Well, whatever it was they'd find out soon enough.

Sure enough, they quickly found themselves seated in those all too familiar chairs that served a double purpose - to sit on, or to bend over the back of for a caning. Dad was seated at his desk as usual, although he was wearing his golf clothes, not business attire. Mom sat in her usual chair next to the desk facing the two boys.

"I'm sure you're wondering why we called this meeting," said Dad. "On my way home from playing golf this morning I stopped off at Mrs. Bauer's house in the hope of negotiating a settlement regarding the damages to her garden."

Corey's heart was in this throat in fearful anticipation at this news, and a quick glance over at Jerry showed that his friend was in a similar state of anxiety. The one good thing they had going for them was that his Dad was a really good negotiator, so they still had some chance of not being bankrupt for the rest of their natural lives.

"I was not greeted very warmly by Mrs. Bauer," said Dad. "In fact she quite clearly would have preferred not speaking to me at all."

The man fixed the two boys with an icy stare. "I am not accustomed to people reacting to me that way. It was embarrassing that her reaction was not caused by some misunderstanding, but was caused by actions that you two, members of my own family, were responsible for."

Corey swallowed nervously and had trouble looking his father in the eye. He felt so ashamed that his negligence had caused his father, and his family, such a loss of standing in their community. But all he could do was sit there feeling a twinge from the stripes on his ass while waiting for the really bad news that had to be coming.

"The only good news from this morning's meeting," said Dad, "if indeed anything about it can truly be said to be good, is that Mrs. Bauer made it absolutely clear to me that she will not accept our money - even money from the culprits here - for the uninsured damages to her garden."

"What about the possibility of a lawsuit, William?" said Mom.

"No, I asked her specifically about that," said Dad. "She assured me that it is the furthest thing from her mind. I believe her."

"That is good news," said Mom, looking quite relieved. Apparently she had been quite worried about a potential lawsuit - something that had never even crossed Corey's mind. He and Jerry were dodging bullets left and right today.

"There is some bad news," said Dad, looking somber. Here comes another bullet.

"Mrs. Bauer told me that she does not want to see any member of our family, and that includes you, Jerry, on her property ever again, said Dad. "Do you both understand?"

Both boys nodded and said, "Yes, sir!" Losing Mrs. Bauer as a lawn mowing and snow shoveling client was far from ideal for Corey, but he was gonna count that bullet as only a slight graze, considering the amount of damage that might have been done.

"Amazing," said Dad, gazing at the two boys with kind of an astonished look on his face, "you two knuckleheads have to be luckiest negligent brats in the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

Lucky? Corey didn't feel particularly lucky, although he knew things could have been much worse. He looked at Jerry, who also had a perplexed look on his face and shrugged.

"Don't you two see?" said Mom. "Your negligence could have cost our families untold thousands of dollars if Mrs. Bauer hadn't had insurance on her flowers and instead had taken us to court."

"So, we're really off the hook?" said Jerry hesitantly.

"It does seem to be shaping up that way, Lieutenant Farnham," said Dad, who winked at Corey.

"What?" said Jerry as Corey stifled a laugh. His Mom looked confused as well.

With a wordless nod from his father that indicated that he should explain, Corey said, "Dad is referencing a line spoken by John Wayne in that great navy film we saw back in spring, In Harm's Way."

"There was a Lieutenant Farnham in that movie?" said Jerry, who had suddenly perked up and was showing real interest.

"No, not really," said Corey. "I said 'referencing', not quoting. In the film he is actually speaking to Commander Eddington, the character played by Kirk Douglas."

Dad said, "I said it that way because I know that the first two ranks you will hold in the Marine Corps. will be lieutenant ranks, Jerry."

"Yes, sir," said Jerry, "you are quite correct. I understand it now."

"Well, I don't!" said Mom. "Besides, what does all that have to do with the subject of this meeting?"

Dad coughed self-consciously, then said, "Yes, dear, you're right. Let's finish this meeting so we can get out of here and enjoy the afternoon."

"You boys missed your allowance yesterday," said Mom. "You won't be getting that money. Think of it as a fine for the embarrassment you caused both William and myself over this matter."

Both boys nodded in response. Corey fervently hoped that was the end of the fines, and any other kinds of punishments. He refused to consider himself lucky in this mess until the smoke cleared and he could assess the final toll.

"You will begin to get your allowance again next Friday," said Dad. "I just hope you can both stay out of trouble the rest of the summer. You two are getting far too old for this kind of stupidity. Remember that if you ever screw up badly enough that you end up with a police record that could cost you your chance of getting into the Naval Academy."

"Yes, sir," said both boys.

"Well, that's all I had," said Dad. He turned to Mom, "Do you have anything to add, dear?"

Mom fixed each boy with a very stern look, but eventually she said, "No, that should do it. You are both so lucky."

"In that case, dismissed, boys," said Dad.

Both boys thanked Corey's parents before they left the office. Just as Corey was about to walk out the office door he stopped and said, "Hey, Dad! Guess which movie is the next Coming Soon film at the Roxy?"

Dad thought about it for a second, a wry smile on his face, finally he said, "I'm gonna guess, In Harm's Way?"

"Bingo!" said Corey, feeling more excitement than he had in a while. "I'm planning to take Jerry to see it when it opens - probably the matinee next Friday. But we can wait for the Friday evening show, or even wait a day or so if you'd like to come along and see it again with us."

"Thanks for the offer," said Dad. "I'd love to see it again sometime, but I don't think next weekend will work for me. You boys just go see the film when you want, and enjoy it!"

"Okay, Dad, we will," said Corey, "and thanks."

"Thanks, Uncle Will," said Jerry as he followed Corey out the door.

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Corey and Jerry immediately thundered up the stairs to their loft bedroom, after first closing the door behind them. "That went surprisingly well," said Jerry, "compared to what I was expecting going into the meeting."

"I'll second and third that motion," said Corey, a big grin on his face.

"But did they really have to withhold our allowances from last night?" said Jerry. "Is their embarrassment really only worth $10 to them?"

"I suppose not," said Corey. "It's probably more to do with how much that amount of money means to us, not to them."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Jerry had a kind of depressed look on his face that did not match the initial upbeat nature of this conversation.

Corey took a guess, but tread lightly. "How much cash do you have left?"

Jerry grimaced. "Just over a dollar, and the Roxy charges $1.00 just for admission. I don't see how I can attend a matinee with you next Friday afternoon, before we get our allowance Friday evening. Can we wait until Saturday, unless you want to see a Friday evening show?"

"Not necessary," said Corey. "I said I was gonna 'take you' to see the matinee, by which I meant it would be my treat. My plan is to pay both our admissions, buy us both sodas, and buy a large bucket of popcorn that we can share."

"Really?" said Jerry. "That's very generous of you. Are you sure that won't bankrupt you completely?"

Corey grinned. "Hey, treating friends to movies and food and stuff like that is a real privilege. And don't worry about me, I have just over seven bucks left, so I can easily afford it, athough we will be limited largely to swimming at the pool for one more week."

"Seven bucks left?" said Jerry, smirking. "You are rich!"

"Seven dollars is rich?" said Corey in disbelief. "Have you seen the prices of things lately? Just about everything at Tony's Hobby Shop in Coplay has gone way up in price. For instance a three-pack of Estes model rocket engines used to cost 79 cents. Over the past year it has jumped up to 99 cents a pack."

"Yeah, I guess things have been getting a bit pricier lately."

"They sure have!" said Corey. "You know things are bad when my parents more than doubled my allowance from $2/week to $5/week back in January." Corey lowered his voice to a whisper, "But I still think that was really because Becky needed more cash to buy fancy clothes and the other junk - which she calls 'accessories' for some reason - that she suddenly feels she needs."

"Wait," said Jerry. "You're parents are no longer paying for your clothes?"

"No, of course they do," said Corey. "They buy us all the basic clothing we need for school, camp, and casual wear. Of course in my case they've always expected me to mostly use camp clothes as casual wear, at least in warmer weather. I do have a couple pairs of jeans I can wear, though mostly in colder weather, but which aren't allowed in school."

Jerry looked confused. "So what kind of clothing is Becky buying if she gets everything she needs paid for by your parents?"

"Oh, nonsense stuff," said Corey. "Which frankly fits her personality. Like she wanted to get one of those French beret hats. Mom refused to pay for it so Becky needed more money so she could pay for it herself. Plus she suddenly feels she needs to buy cosmetics, including some stupid little pocket cosmetic holder with a small mirror inside."

"Why?" said Jerry, who seemed totally confused.

"You got me, my friend," said Corey. "I do keep trying to warn you that she's mad as a hatter."

"Yes, you do." Jerry looked contemplative for a few seconds. "Listen, big brother, I'm not gonna fall for her charms this summer, I can assure you of that. She's just a kid, for crying out loud."

"She won't always be a kid."

"Too true," said Jerry. "But you know what kind of woman I like - Ann-Margaret."

"Well Becky will never look like Ann-Margaret," said Corey. "But I guess she will develop some curves eventually that some guy may find interesting someday."

"No doubt," said Jerry. "But who knows how many more summers I'll be able to visit you here? This is the last year of the World's Fair. Plus Uncle Owen has started hinting that I should be trying to get a summer job one of these years."

"Yep, I was afraid of that," said Corey. "With no more World's Fair next year I doubt that we'll convince any of the adults in our lives to drive us from Elmira to Northampton, or vice versa. My parents have been against the idea of me getting a part-time job, at least during the school year. They want me to focus on my studies. They told me that getting top grades in school is my job as long as I'm in school. It's hard to argue with them on that score since I will need top grades to get into the Academy."

"Yeah," said Jerry. "My aunt and uncle feel the same way about me working during school, and they also tell Robby and me that getting good grades in school is our job. But they said that a summer job wouldn't be a problem in that area. It would teach me responsibility and give me a chance to earn extra money for myself."

"Extra money is always nice," said Corey. He decided then and there to convince his parents to let him get a summer job in 1966 if he and Jerry were unable to be together outside of their time at Camp Torowa Falls. Of course that would mean he couldn't work a summer job in Northampton for the entire summer, but only until he left for camp.

Sunday was going to be July 4th. So the family would be spending the morning in church, and the rest of the day at the traditional Hoffman Family Independence Day Picnic, hosted by Uncle Karl at his house in Allentown. Therefore Corey and Jerry agreed to spend the remainder of Saturday afternoon swimming at the Northampton Community Pool.

As Corey and Jerry passed through on their way to the garage to get their bikes, the kitchen was a hive of activity. Mom and Becky were working on the food that the Lane family would be bringing along to the picnic the next day. Since the annual Hoffman family picnic generally served 40-45 people at both lunch and dinner, food preparation was spread out among the six distinct households that made up that overall branch of the Hoffman clan. Neighbors and friends who stopped in for all or part of the day customarily brought some kind of covered dish and/or baked item as a contribution to the food supply. Jerry was exempt from this customary expectation since he counted as a member of the Lane family contingent while he was visiting Corey.

Penny Lane was an excellent baker, so she was mostly expected to supply dessert items for the picnic. She and Becky were working on preparing and baking Apple Pies, Blueberry Pies, Cherry Pies, Strawberry Pies, Shoo Fly Pies and Black Walnut Cakes. They made two of each item, one to put out at lunch, and one to be reserved for dinner. Becky had also whipped up two trays of Deviled Eggs, one of her personal favorite picnic foods. Corey liked them too, and he hoped that his sister had done a good job replicating Mom's recipe. It could give him a genuine, non-ironic reason to compliment Becky, and those opportunities were very few and far between.

Predictably, Becky taunted the boys about not helping out with food preparations they passed through, but Mom cut her off. As Mom pointed out the Lane family kitchen was not all that spacious. There really wasn't enough room in there for more than two people to be working effectively at a time. Corey and Jerry managed to get through the kitchen without disturbing anything and they headed out to the garage, with a reminder from Mom to be home by 6 PM.

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Less than ten minutes later they were locking their bikes into the rack in front of the Northampton Community Poolhouse. It was obvious from the racket level coming from the pool area that the pool was busy today. As they opened the door to the Men's Locker Room a quite different sound greeted them - the Craacckk! of a large wooden paddle striking the bare, wet backside of a howling boy.

Huzzah! Corey was happy that for once they were gonna get to see someone else "get it" rather than he and Jerry getting it themselves all the time. As they turned the corner into the locker room proper, it turned out to be several someones. Apparently five boys were being punished for some mischief. One of them (the smallest one) was already standing off to the side vigorously rubbing his roasted red bottom as he sobbed bitterly.

Don Ehrlert, the Men's Locker Room attendant for that summer, had his paddle lined up again. Craacckk! This elicited a howl from the 11-year-old boy (whom Corey only knew as Bruce) who was bent over a bench to receive his paddling.

Three dripping wet older boys stood waiting in line for their turns and from the looks on their faces, all three would have rather been almost anywhere else at that moment. The only one of the three that Corey knew was the last kid in line, Dana Flatley, a 14-year-old who had moved to Northampton just as school was starting last year. Dana had been in Corey's eighth grade home room class and he had helped the newcomer get settled in to his new surroundings whenever he could.

The bending Bruce recieved two more solid whacks of Don's paddle, howling with each one. "Next!" called Don.

Bruce stiffly straightened back up, carefully rubbing his throbbing backside and sobbing openly. He limped away towards his clothes as the next boy in line, a chunky 12-year-old, moved forward to most unwillingly take the proper position for his paddling.

Craacckk! From the first whack to the end, the chunky boy screamed like a banshee on fire, stamping his feet and barely maintaining the required position. Craacckk! All in all it was not an impressive performace. Craacckk! Corey knew quite well how much that paddle could hurt. Craacckk! But come on, kid! Try to show a little gumption. Craacckk!

"Next!" called Don. The screaming boy leapt back up straight and began hopping around as he rubbed his bright red backside and howled, tears and snot running down his face. It quickly became apparent that the only skinny part of that boy's body was his penis. That slender appendage flopped around as its owner hopped and danced around the locker room.

The next boy, another 12-year-old, albeit a skinny one, unwillingly replaced the dancer in the required position bending over the bench. Craacckk! Corey watched the skinny bottom turn crimson as the mouth at the other end of those nerve endings grunted and yelped. Craacckk! Corey gradually started thinking that he knew this kid from somewhere. Craacckk! But he couldn't remember from where, nor could he place a name on him. But Don had no trouble placing his paddle on him. Craacckk! The yelps turned to howls and the boy shuffled his feet as the heat built up in his rapidly reddening rump. Craacckk! The howling became more frantic, but at least the poor kid only had one more to go. Craacckk!

"Next!" yelled Don. The bending boy stood up slowly and then limped away, rubbing his flaming bottom and crying. Corey still couldn't place him, apart from maybe seeing him around the pool now and again. But Corey felt he had seen the the kid somewhere else, when he was actually wearing clothes.

Meanwhile Dana stepped forward and took his place bending over the bench. Corey had never seen him get paddled before, so this should be intersting. Craacckk! No reaction, except for a barely audible gasp. Craacckk! A louder gasp this time. But still, this was more like it as far as Corey was concerned. Craacckk! "Aaaah" Of course, Dana was at least two years older than those other kids. Craacckk! Dana yelped in response. Corey knew that heat was a scorching flame by now. Craacckk! Dana yelped louder, and looked like he was getting ready to straighten up. Boy, does he have another think coming. Craacckk! Dana howled on that last one.

Finally Don said, "That's it, Dana, get up." The college student, who looked a bit like a wrestler, walked back to his office with the paddle.

Dana ever so slowly straightened up, his buttocks and upper legs obviously stiff from the paddling as he rubbed his ruby red bottom in a futile effort to get rid of the pain. As Dana turned to head for his clothes two things became obvious. Tears were streaming from his eyes, but he was not actively crying. The most obvious thing was the sturdy erection that bobbed around a bit as he limped towards his clothes. While not quite up to Corey's or especially Jerry's standards, it was an impressive appendage for a 14-year-old.

Corey was burning with curiosity, of course. What had happened to cause this paddling? He didn't feel right approaching Dana at that moment, however. Not when his classmate was nursing a flaming sore backide, in tears, and sporting a very public boner.

Corey didn't know any of the other four boys well enough to ask about it, so he simply joined Jerry in stripping for their pre-swimming showers.

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None of their friends out by the pool knew there had been a paddling in the locker room, much less any possible reason for it. By the time Corey and Jerry got to the pool deck and joined their friends it was nearly 3 PM. This meant they had to leave in two and a half hours so they would be home in time for dinner.

Although they chatted about goofy things and a few disgusting things, as boys that age are inclined to do when not under direct adult supervision, much of the talk was about 4th of July plans. Corey was left with little to say on this subject since everyone in his circle of friends there was well aware that he had an annual date at his mother's family's July 4th picnic down in Allentown.

The family of 14-year-old Mike Huijsa used to go down to one of the public beaches at the Jersey shore for July 4th, or sometimes for even an entire week around that holiday. But his parents had grown tired of all the traffic and all the crowds and dropped that tradition. Mike said his family was going to picnic with neighbors during the day and then drive up to Wind Gap to see the fireworks there at night.

Walt, Doug Kleckner and Dave Detweiler all slammed that idea as a bad one, the Wind Gap fireworks part, that is. They all insisted that the fireworks at Dorney Park in Allentown were much better.

All Corey could say was, "I've only seen the fireworks at Dorney Park, so I have no basis for comparison. But the Dorney Park fireworks are very good."

"Wait a sec," said Mike. "Doesn't your family do their own fireworks at their picnic? I know they did last year, unless all those rumors I heard at the time were false."

"No," said Corey, "we did do our own fireworks the past three years. One of my uncles was able to get some really good stuff from somewhere. I have no idea about this year, though."

"I'd be surprised if they did their own this year," said Jerry, who looked glad to finally have something to contribute to the topic. "Not after what happened to us last year."

Corey shrugged. He really agreed with Jerry but he was slightly miffed with his friend for bringing up what happened to them last year so directly.

"Didn't you ask your parents about the fireworks?" said Doug, a slight smirk on his face.

"No!" said Corey fervently. "I have not used the word 'fireworks' in the presence of my parents since the incident last summer."

The boys started laughing at this... even Jerry was having trouble not laughing, although he was holding it in so far.

"Laugh all you want," said Corey, unable to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "Frankly, I'll be happy with whatever my family decides to do about fireworks as long as Jerry and I don't get our butts whipped at the end of it."

"I second that motion!" said Jerry.

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The two friends got home just in time, at five minutes before 6 PM. As they stored their bikes in the garage, Jerry said, "If the kitchen if gonna be tied up, what do you think will happen for dinner?"

"No idea," said Corey as they headed for the back door of the house.

The kitchen was much less chaotic than when they left. In fact it was empty. Apart from a stack of mixing bowls that looked like they had been cleaned, but not yet put away, there wasn't any sign of the massive baking efforts that had been underway just 3 hours earlier. Nor was there any sign of preparations for an evening meal. "Where is everybody?" said Jerry.

"In here, boys!" said Dad, his voice coming from the front of the house.

Jerry followed Corey towards the sound of the man's voice. They passed through the dining room and found him watching television in the living room. This surprised Corey since his father rarely watched television. Then he realized that the Three Stooges were on the tube and the mystery was solved. Corey's Dad loved the Three Stooges.

The episode ended at the top of the hour. Dad looked at the boys and said, "Welcome home, guys. The ladies are upstairs washing up from all their baking efforts. We'll leave for dinner as soon as they get dressed and back down here."

"Where are we going for dinner, Uncle Will?" said Jerry.

"The Fireside Diner over in Whitehall," said Dad. "That way everyone can get whatever kind of food they want."

"Just remember," said Corey, who was looking at Jerry, "tomorrow we will be having picnic food for lunch and dinner, so you might want to avoid hot dogs and hamburgers tonight."

"Yes," said Jerry in a slightly annoyed tone. "I remember what the picnic was like last year. I'll plan my dinner order accordingly."

"You two," said Dad, shaking his head in disbelief. "You take everything so seriously. I guess that's just another one of the complications of being a teenager. Teens even take themselves too seriously. You guys need to remember that you're not in the service yet. You're not even in the Academy yet. Live a little while you're still young!"

Both boys promised that they would try to loosen up. Jerry finally asked, hesitantly, "So you're not still really sore at us over the Mrs. Bauer thing?"

"Not really," said Dad. "I was shocked at the way she had spoken to me more than anything. I've been thinking about it this afternoon and I suspect that the whole mess may have been nearly as much her fault as yours. She was too cheap to get her busted mower fixed and ended up paying the price."

"No offense meant, Uncle Will," said Jerry. "But I really wish you had come to this conclusion on Wednesday instead of today."

Dad chuckled. "I'm sure you do, Jerry. No offense taken. But when you feel those stripes remember that you two were not entirely innocent in this deal. You each had a hand in what happened. All I'm saying different today is that Mrs. Bauer had a hand in it, too. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!" chorused the two boys.

Dad beckoned the boys over to where he was sitting. He looked around to see if the coast was clear, then he reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of small bills. He peeled off a $5 bill for each of them and whispered, "I'll give you this on the condition that you don't mention it... to anyone."

Both boys nodded their agreement and pocketed the cash, thanking Dad in a whisper. At that point their conversation was interupted by the noise of footsteps coming down the front stairs.

The ladies had finished their preparations and were ready to leave for dinner. There was a brief discussion between Corey's parents about which car to take to dinner. Mom finally convinced Dad that all the picnic stuff would never fit in the trunk of the new Galaxie 500 LTD. Since they would have to use the Falcon station wagon to haul five people and all the food to Uncle Karl's tomorrow, why not use the LTD to go to dinner tonight?

And so it was that the family walked out the back door to the garage and piled in the big new Ford sedan once Dad pulled it out into the alley and the boys had closed and locked the garage doors.

Jerry was really impressed with Uncle Will's new ride and said so, which Corey could tell made his father happy. Corey found himself silently wishing, and not for the first time, that he had Jerry for a brother instead of Becky for a sister. As they drove to Whitehall he idly fantisized about being able trade Becky in at some return counter like a defective Christmas present.

----------------------------------------------

The Fireside Diner was a good as ever. Corey ordered his favorite item on the menu, the Veal Parmesan with Spaghetti. Jerry tried the Open Faced Roast Beef Sandwich and Mashed Potatoes platter that arrived with brown gravy ladled liberally over the entire plate. He really seemed to enjoy it.

While they were waiting for their food Jerry stared out the window, which faced MacArthur Road. "What are they building over there?" said Jerry, indicating the massive contruction site across the street. "It's enormous!"

"That's a new enclosed shopping center they are building, the first such large structure in Pennsylvania north of Philadelphia," said Dad. "They're calling it the Whitehall Mall."

Jerry stared out the window in disbelief. "That's gonna be a shopping center? Exactly how big will it be?"

"Something like half a million square feet of rentable space. You could probably fit most of our neighborhood in Northampton inside that big a space."

"Please, William," said Mom. "Don't exaggerate so."

Dad shook his head. "That's not much of an exaggeration, Penny. Just wait until you walk around inside it next year after it opens."

"Yes, well," said Mom uncomfortably, "let's change the subject."

Everyone agreed to this, although Jerry kept staring out the window in amazement from time to time. Corey had been watching the mall being built in slow motion for the past 18 months or so as the family dined periodically at the Fireside Diner, which explained his relative lack of interest compared to Jerry.

After dinner they all piled in the car and drove straight home. The kids were reminded that Sunday would be a very long day, so they should get to sleep early. Corey knew this wouldn't be a problem for him since he was exhausted.

Jerry wasn't really in the mood for conversation either that evening, so both boys retreated to their beds to read. Corey didn't read long before he fell asleep with a book in his hand.