					FOURTH OF JULY (Chapter 20)


"What a glorious day we have for the Forth of July," Peg Kelleher said happily.

"Yup," agreed Jim. "It's a scorcher." He was firing up the grill to barbecue. His oldest son emerged from the house. "Hey, Warren!"

"Hey Dad. Mom."

"You going to walk over Sophia's to get her?"

"Nope, her Mom offered to drop her off."

"Great," said Jim. "So, what are the plans today?"

"Well, first we appreciate your great grill technique," Warren said. Jim laughed. "Then we're going to hang out, probably watch the Sox. Later, we head up to the Kenney's for their Big Barbecue Bash. Lots of people coming to that one."

"Sounds cool." A car pulled up in front of the house. "Sounds like that's your lady, Warren."  Warren went out in front of the house. 

Sophia and Warren were still exchanging kisses, but Ellen Kovach went around the back of the house. "Hello, you're Warren's parents?"

"Yes, we are," said Peg. "I'm Peg Kelleher, and this is Jim."

"I'm Ellen Kovach, Sophia's mother." They exchanged handshakes. "Listen, I was wondering if I could talk to you two sometime, preferably when the kids aren't around."

"Actually, I think that would be a great idea, Mrs. Kovach," Peg said.

"Please call me Ellen."

"OK, Ellen, we're Peg and Jim."

"Whenever you'd like to arrange this, just let me know."

"Actually," smiled Peg, "I think we could do it now. Are you free for a few?"

"Yes, I am. My other two kids are with their father. But what about Warren and Sophie?"

"I've got a plan for them. HEY, WARREN!" 

Warren and Sophia came around the back of the house. "You bellowed?" Warren said amusedly.

"Yes, I did. I need more Coke. You and Sophia mind taking a little walk?"

Warren looked at Sophia, who smiled and nodded. "Sure. I need some cash, though."

Jim reached in his back pocket and took out his wallet. "Bank of Jim, at your service," he quipped. Warren took the fiver and saluted. "Back in about twenty-don't burn the chicken wings before I come back, OK, Dad?"

"Wouldn't hear of it."

They walked out the driveway, headed towards the store. Peg and Ellen took a seat at the picnic table, while Jim kept his eye on the grill.

Peg took a deep breath. "Let me start. There's one thing you need to know. I found out that Warren and Sophia are sleeping together."

Ellen just smiled. "I know."

"You KNOW?"

"I've known for a while."

"I must say, you seem remarkably not upset about it."

"I'm not, not all that much. But I'll get back to that, because this all ties in together."

"OK," Peg said warily.

"First off, I overheard a conversation between those two kids. They do not know I overheard them, and it's probably best to keep it that way. But I wanted to discuss it with you. The gist of the conversation was that you all seem concerned about their relationship, and how serious it is."

"I am. We are. It seems dangerous. They're so young. I can't help but worry that they are setting themselves up for quite a fall."

"And if I were in your shoes-if Warren were my child-I'd probably share those feelings."

"But you don't."

"No." Ellen took a deep breath. "What do you know about Sophia before she met Warren?"

"Not much,"admitted Peg. "I've surmised that her previous relationship was a violent one, but that's all I know."

"OK," Ellen took another breath. "I am probably betraying Sophia horribly with what I'm about to tell you, but it is important that you know. It's also important that you realize what kind of a young man-and I used the word 'man' deliberately-your son is."

"Go on."

"First of all, I'm not overly worried about Sophia sleeping with Warren for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that Warren is not her first. I'm not sure how many, but there's at least three that I'm almost positive about. I'm not sure exactly when, but I'm pretty sure she lost her virginity before her thirteenth birthday."

"She was TWELVE?"

"I think so. And I am pretty sure that none of her sexual encounters were entirely voluntary. I don't know where the line between coercion and rape is-especially with a twelve or thirteen year old-but the scum she had for boyfriends back then were certainly skirting that line, if not crossing it. Especially considering that I'm pretty sure that all of them, not just the last one, were hitting her."

"By the way, you must know-but I'll tell you anyway-that the non-voluntary thing does not, in any way shape or form, include Warren. I know for an absolute fact that he did not coerce or force her. In fact, I also know that their first time was arranged, completely, by Sophia-and how she pulled that off is a delightfully romantic story that makes me wish I was fifteen again-but I'll let her tell that one if she's so inclined." Even Peg smiled a bit at that.

"If you had asked me, six months ago, to predict my daughter's future, I would have bet money that I would have been attending her funeral before I attended her high school graduation." Peg and Jim gasped, and looked at each other. "Not only was she having less-than-voluntary sex with guys who hit her, she was on drugs. She was drinking. She was flunking out of school. She was a miserable wreck when she was in the house. She had the self-esteem of a slug. And, when I looked into her eyes, I didn't see a fourteen-year-old girl. I saw a thirty-year-old woman-and it was a thirty-year-old woman who had been beaten down, hard. I was watching my oldest daughter slip over the abyss. And I was powerless and clueless to help her."

Peg and Jim were listening raptly now. Ellen took another deep breath. "I had Sophia when I was eighteen. I thought I was in love. Unfortunately, the man I thought I was in love with turned out to be more in love with the bottle. And when he drank, he got violent-towards me, and sometimes towards Sophia. He left when Sophia was three. Thank God, because I couldn't gather up the courage to leave him. And I saw Sophia, drinking, getting beat up by men-and I collapsed. I was powerless. I didn't know what to do. I thought I had lost her. For good."

Ellen had been looking down as she said this-now she looked up, a slight smile on her face. "Now, look at her. She quit drugs. I think she might still have the odd beer at a party, but I haven't seen her drunk in months. She actually brought me home a report card with all B's and one C-I though I'd faint." They all chuckled at that. "She believes in herself. She has a boyfriend that truly loves her and treats her like a princess. If she's having sex, it's because she wants to. Best of all, despite the fact that she's in an advanced relationship for her age, I look into her eyes and I see a fifteen-year-old girl. A happy, healthy, fifteen year old girl. If the price I have to pay for this miraculous transformation is that she's got a boyfriend who, in her words, pushes every button she's got and has turned her into a raging sex kitten, well, I think I can live with that." Peg and Jim couldn't help but laugh.

Peg looked at Ellen. "I teach high school, at Wilkins academy. I've seen some kids slide down into the abyss. It's very rare for them to come back as far as Sophia evidently has. How did this happen?"

Ellen just shook her head. "You don't get it, do you? No, evidently you don't. It's Warren. Don't you see? Now, Sophia did this herself. She worked hard at it. But Warren was her lifeline, her anchor, through the whole thing. Those two kids-even though they're just kids-have a connection that I can't fathom, much less attempt to interfere with." She got a wry look on her face. "I've been married twice and I don't think I've ever been that much in love." They all laughed.

"Sophia has been glowing, and I mean glowing, for three months now. I don't care how good the sex is, you don't get that from just sex. She's lit up like a Christmas tree. You must have noticed the same with Warren."

Peg smiled, "Yeah, I have."

"Good. Listen, you need to know this-I give thanks to God, every night, that your son wandered into my daughter's life when he did. And I thank God that you two raised him to be the caring, kind, considerate, fine young man that he so obviously is. He helped give me my daughter back."

Peg looked concerned. "Thank you. Warren's a great kid. We are proud of him. But.......Don't you worry about what might happen to her if they were to break up? That she might slide backwards?"

"Sure I do. I'm hoping if that ever happens, that her self-confidence will be strong enough that she realizes that she did do this herself-even if Warren's help was invaluable. That's all I can do. But, I have to tell you-I spend more time with them than you do. They're over my house more than they are here."

"True."

"Well, you watch them. Make them come over here more often, now that it's summer, and watch them. And after you watch them, you tell me if there is any logical, rational reason why you'd think that they'd break up any time soon. I can't see it. Yeah, they're young. Yeah, things change. But, remember what I said-a connection between them that leaves me awestruck. Heck, even their skating coach sees it."

Peg laughed. "She does?"

"Yeah. I went to watch them practice last week, and introduced myself to June. She said to me, 'I love those two. I never know if I should be preparing them for ice dance competitions in a year, or mailing out the invitation to the wedding shower. You think they'll make it through high school before they get hitched?' She was kidding-your studyaholic diligent son is too focused for that-but I do know a bit how she feels."

"And it's selfish of me, and I'd never say this to them-they have to let themselves take their own path-but I hope they never break up. I hope I'm sitting with you two about ten years from now at a wedding. Because I love Warren, like he was my own, and I love what he's helped Sophie become."

"So now you know."

Before anyone could say another word, they heard Warren and Sophia approaching up the driveway, laughing and giggling. They emerged into the backyard, with Sophia on Warren's back, getting a piggyback while holding the bag with the Cokes. The parents looked on, bemused, as Warren dipped Sophia low enough to place the cokes on the table with a jaunty "Voila!" and then Warren straightened up again. They cavorted around the yard, piggyback, until Warren tripped on something and fell forward, and went sprawling.

With Sophia on top of him.

The parents looked concerned, and were about to ask if they were all right, when the bellowing laughter told them they were in fact all right. Warren extricated himself from under Sophia, sat up, and exclaimed,
"That's IT!"

"That's what?" Sophia asked.

"The ending pose to our free dance! It's perfect! The Daniels-Kelleher Sprawl!" Everyone laughed at that. 

"You goof!" said Sophia, as she crawled over to where he was sitting, and tackled him, and then kissed him.

The parents tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle giggles. 

"Uh....er.....Soph?"

"Yes, Warren?"

"We are currently being watched while we make out by every parent we've collectively got."

"Oh." Sophie sat up, and looked over at the bemused parents. "Hi, y'all!" Then she looked back down at Warren. "Oh, you're blushing!" She looked at the parents. "He's the cutest thing in the world when he blushes." And then she tackled Warren and started nuzzling his neck.

The parents couldn't hold in the giggles by now.

"Uh.....Soph? We're still being watched."

"Yeah, so, what if I'm an exhibitionist at heart?"

"Well, that's all well and good, but the problem is my DAD is watching and he's NOT paying attention to the GRILL and he's gonna BURN the CHICKEN WINGS!" 

"Oh, that's different," Sophia said, climbing off Warren, and standing up. "Where are my priorities?" She hopped up on the picnic table, sitting on top of it, and said, "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"

Warren stood up, and in his best bad-junior-high-acting impression, recited," Hark! What light.....through-yonder-window BREAKS? It-is-the-east.....and Juliet.......is the sunnnnn." Whereupon Sophia started clapping and yelling "Author! Author!" while Warren mock-bowed to all four corners of the backyard.

By this time, the parents were in stitches.

Sophia hopped down from the table, and turned to Warren, and said, "C'mon, goofball, didn't you say you needed my help in finishing the potato salad?"

"Oh yeah," Warren said. He walked towards the house, just behind Sophia, and as he walked by the table, he leaned towards the parents and said, "I want to see the emotional mushball over there chop some onions."

"Oh, you'll be surprised at what I can do with a sharp object in my hand."

"Promises, promises," Warren quipped as they headed into the house.

Peg was wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes. "OK, Ellen, you've been around them more than I have, like you said. Is this typical?"

Ellen was laughing, too. "Yeah. Now, they do have serious talks. And they cuddle a lot. But, believe me, I get a lot of this. They mock-quote Romeo and Juliet at each other all the time. Did you know that that's one of their sets of nicknames for one another? Romeo and Juliet?"

Peg smiled, "No I didn't. There are others?"

"Yeah. Pookie for her and Snugglebear for him. She also calls him Dear Heart. He occasionally calls her the aforementioned Sex Kitten."

They all laughed. Peg said, "I'm a bit relieved. I was under the impression that there was a lot more overly-romantic super-serious mooning at each other."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, they do that, too." Ellen laughed.

Peg looked at Ellen. "I'm glad you came. I think it helped." She smiled. "We've got an absolute boatload of food. If you don't have any other plans, we'd love for you to stay for eats."

Ellen smiled. "I'd love to. But let me ask permission."

"Permission?"

"Hey, Sophie, come to the window." Sophie did. "Warren's parents asked me to stay for lunch. That okay with you? I wouldn't want to cramp your style or anything."

"Ah, you don't do that.....much.......for a Mother." They both laughed. "I think it's great. You can tell us what you thought of our awe-inspiring potato salad!"










