Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 16
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Seating himself in the futon, Jerry shook his head trying to clear it. 
The previous day his son was officially given into his custody and 
new support arrangements were made in light of that fact. After the 
hearing, he had returned home and gotten his son settled on the 
Futon before returning to work. After work, he had bought a new 
bed and mattress for his son. The evening had been spent with 
Henry assembling the bed frame and getting the mattress set up. 

That morning had started early, as he had to make breakfast for his 
son and himself before going into the office. Martin and Abe came 
over shortly after they ate. Abe was planning to spend the morning 
with Bill. That was a major relief for Jerry as he headed to work 
with Martin since it meant that his son would not be alone his first 
day at home. 

Work had been total chaos ending with them setting a sales record 
for a single day of business. It had been so busy that he had Martin 
bring him tacos from across the street for lunch. The food had sat 
heavy in his stomach and his feet were sore by the end of the day. 
It was with a real relief that he had locked up the store to go home.

Jerry had gone into his desk and counted his cash. He still had two 
thousand dollars left from what he had taken from the savings 
account. He pulled out five hundred hoping that it was enough to 
get his son some clothes figuring they would go to the mall the 
next day. He left for home anticipating a nice evening at home.

His musings over the day were interrupted when Bill asked, "Don't 
you have plans for tonight?"

"Oh, shit! I forgot about Jenny. I'm supposed to be over to pick her 
up in an hour," replied Jerry. 

Bill grinned at his father and asked, "So where are you going?"

"I'm going to have to cancel it," answered Jerry. As much as he 
wanted to go out with Jenny, he didn't think that he would be good 
company. In addition, he didn't want to leave his son at home alone 
in the dark.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," replied Bill. Abe had told 
him about how his father had been seeing this woman once a week 
for lunch, but that this was going to be his first date with her. Abe 
and Martin had bets on how it would go.

Surprised at getting dating advice from his fourteen-year-old son, 
Jerry asked, "Why?"

"It's your first date with her," replied Bill as though that explained 
everything.

Jerry got out his wallet and looked through it for her telephone 
number. Once he had located it, he dialed her number. After four 
rings, she picked up and said, "Hello."

"Hi. This is Jerry."

"Oh, what's up?"

There was an awkward pause while Jerry tried to decide what he 
wanted to do. On one hand, he wanted to go out with her and, on 
the other hand, he didn't want to leave his son at home alone. 
Finally, he blurted, "Could I bring my son on our date?"

There was a long moment of silence on the other end of the phone. 
Finally, Jenny said, "Sure, I guess that would be fine."

"Thanks a lot," said Jerry. Looking over at his son, he said, "We'll 
be there in an hour."

"I'm looking forward to it," replied Jenny although the tone of her 
voice didn't support her statement. She wasn't exactly looking 
forward to an evening with a kid.

After hanging up, Jerry looked at Bill and asked, "Have you ever 
been on a date?"

"No!"

"Neither have I," remarked the large man as he looked down at his 
massive hands. He washed there was something he could do about 
the calluses, but knew it was hopeless. He had forty minutes to get 
ready for the date. Looking up at the surprised expression on his 
son's face, he said, "I didn't date your mother. I went where she 
told me."

"Oh."

"So if I start to blow it tonight, kick me under the table."

Bill laughed and shook his head. Then he realized that he was 
coming with his father on the date. To clarify that, he asked, "I'm 
coming?"

"Yes, so you better get dressed," replied Jerry.

"I don't have anything to wear," replied Bill. His blue jeans were 
filthy, but were all that he had to wear. His shirt had been ripped to 
work on his arm. 

Hitting his forehead, Jerry exclaimed, "I was going to take you by 
the house tonight to get your stuff. I guess we'll have to stop and 
get you some clothes on the way to her house."

This dating business was much more complicated than he had 
thought it would be. Flustered, he said, "I'll get washed and dressed 
and then we'll go."

Without waiting for an answer, Jerry ran into the bathroom leaving 
an amused Bill behind. After a very quick shower, he ran into the 
bedroom and changed into clean clothes. It only took him fifteen 
minutes before he was ready to go. Standing at the door, he asked, 
"Are you ready, Bill?"

"Sure, I guess so," replied Bill. He had taken the opportunity to 
wash a little while his dad was getting into his clothes. He couldn't 
shower, but he had taken a sponge bath earlier that day. 

The pair went out into the yard and looked at the two vehicles 
parked there. Turning to Bill, Jerry asked, "Which car?"

"Is she a nice lady?"

"Yes, she is," replied Jerry.

"The truck would be best," replied Bill. He had thought it would be 
better for the three of them to ride in the truck rather than have to 
have her or him climb into the back of the Camaro. He didn't think 
his ribs would enjoy trying to get into the backseat. 

"Okay," replied Jerry as he headed towards the truck. He held the 
door open for his son knowing that it was difficult for him to open 
the door with a broken arm and busted ribs. 

They drove to the closest place that sold clothes and ran inside. It 
took them fifteen minutes to pick out three pairs of blue jeans and 
a couple of shirts with large enough sleeves to let him wear them 
over the cast. Socks and underwear took almost no time to select. 
Jerry checked his watch feeling that they could make it on time to 
Jenny's place.

The biggest time loss occurred when they went to pay for them. 
Even though they were second in line, the woman ringing up the 
orders seemed to take a full minute per item. He could feel the rage 
rising as the time dragged by. It collapsed when Bill put a hand on 
his arm and, in a reasonable tone of voice, suggested, "If she's nice, 
she'll understand if we're a little late."

The reminder came just in time. Turning to his son, he said, 
"Remind me to write this down."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to an anger management specialist. We are keeping 
track of the things that trigger my anger so I know what to avoid," 
answered Jerry.

"That's a good idea. In a way, that's what Sandy does for Larry and 
me. After we get done losing our temper, she asks us questions 
about why we got mad. I'll tell you, I find that I'm losing my 
temper a lot less now." Bill was silent for a minute as he 
considered his friends at school and the way they supported him 
even when he was down. Looking up at his father, he asked, "Will 
I have to change schools?"

"Worried about moving away from your friends?"

"Yeah."

"We'll do the best we can to keep you there." Jerry knew that 
wasn't much of a promise, but it was the best that he could do at 
the time. 

By this time, the lady had finished with the person in front of them 
and went to work on their purchases. She didn't speed up, but Jerry 
let it slide. Nodding as he thought about it, he said, "I'll do what I 
can."

"Thanks, dad."

The sound of his son thanking him was like music in his ears. He 
replied, "You're welcome, son."

The pair turned to watch the woman ringing up the orders. Jerry 
started laughing as she took the time to fold each item of clothes 
before putting it into the bag. He knew that as soon as they picked 
it up and let Bill rummage through it to change his clothes, they 
would be a mangled mess. It took ten minutes for her to ring up the 
few items that they had purchased. Jerry was glad that he had cash, 
as he couldn't imagine how long it would take to pay with a check.

The two went out to the truck and got into it. Jerry and Bill looked 
at each other when the flaw in their plan became obvious. Jerry 
gave voice to it when he said, "How do we get you into those new 
clothes?"

Frowning, Bill said, "Maybe I can change at her house."

Deciding that was the best that he could do, Jerry started up the 
truck and headed to Jenny's place.  He glanced at his watch and 
realized that he would be ten minutes late. Frowning, he said, "I 
never thought this dating business was this tough."

"So what are you doing on this date?"

"Dinner and a movie," replied Jerry happy that Jenny and he had 
resolved that over lunch.

"Oh, where are we going to eat?" asked Bill as his stomach 
rumbled.

"I don't know."

"Uh, what movie are you going to take her to?" asked Bill. Even he 
knew that the man was supposed to do the planning for a date.

"No idea," answered Jerry as he licked his lips nervously. 

"Dad, you better make some plans real quick. The least you can do 
is pick out a restaurant and put off deciding on a movie until you 
arrive there. Use me as an excuse for having to change your plans 
at the last minute," suggested Bill. 

Palms sweating, Jerry's mind worked furiously trying to come up 
with a place for dinner. He normally went to chain restaurants, fast 
food, and the Crimson Rose Bistro. If she didn't own the Bistro, 
that's where he would have wanted to take her. He asked, "How 
about Italian?"

Bill answered, "Sure, there's a good Italian place by the mall."

"How do you know?" asked Jerry surprised at his son's knowledge 
of restaurants. 

"Mom never cooked once you left," answered Bill. 

They arrived at the house and sat in the truck looking at the front 
door. Shaking his head, Jerry said, "Maybe this is a mistake."

"Too late to back out now. She sees you sitting here," remarked 
Bill as he looked at the house seeing the attractive woman standing 
at the window. 

Jerry got out of the car and swore, "Damn, I should have gotten her 
flowers."

"Dad, admit it. You aren't ready for this date."

The assessment was too true to deny. It only took a moment for 
him to open the door and help Bill out of the truck. He reached in 
and grabbed the bag of new clothes so that his son could change 
into them before they went to a public restaurant. There was no 
way he would dare predict what kind of impression he was making 
on Jenny. Turning, he saw that Bill was already halfway to the 
front door. He closed the door and rushed to catch up with his son. 

The door opened before they reached it. Jenny stood at the door 
wearing a very nice red dress that showed off her figure in a very 
spectacular manner. The contrast between her attire and that of 
Bill's filthy clothes was shocking. Her face fell as she looked at 
him and then at Jerry who was acting very nervous. He had just 
really looked at her and was tongue-tied at the thought that this 
beautiful woman was going on a date with him. Jerry said, "Jenny, 
this is my son Bill. Bill, this is Jenny."

Jenny looked at the young man and only then realized that a fresh 
cast was on his arm. She said, "Hello, Bill."

"Hi, Jenny. Sorry we are late. I'm afraid that we had to stop and get 
new clothes for me." Bill could see that Jenny wasn't very 
impressed.

Jerry asked, "Could he change in your bathroom? I'm afraid that I 
messed everything up today."

Jenny, wondering what she had gotten into on this date, backed 
into the house and said, "Go ahead. I'll show you where it is."

Bill followed her into the house while Jerry stood outside holding 
the clothes. He couldn't hear what was exchanged between Bill and 
Jenny, but he did hear her giggle when Bill called back, "Dad, I 
need the clothes."

"Come in, Jerry. I don't bite."

Jerry stepped into the house and looked around finding no one 
there. Jenny came out of the hallway and grabbed the bag from his 
hand before disappearing again. It was a few minutes later when 
she reappeared. Frowning, she asked, "What happened to him?"

"Thursday night his mother beat him with a baseball bat. She broke 
his arm and two ribs. He showed up on my porch in the middle of 
that horrible storm after having ridden his scooter most of the way 
to the house," answered Jerry. His voice conveyed his concern for 
his son and his anger at his ex-wife. 

"All that happened Thursday night?"

"Yeah. It's been a wild couple of days," answered Jerry. 

"So what happened to his mother?"

Frowning, Jerry replied, "I had her arrested for assault with a 
deadly weapon. Yesterday, we went to court and I got custody of 
him. We moved him in after the hearing."

"Wow, it sounds like you had a busy day yesterday."

"I guess," replied Jerry. He looked at his hands as he said, "I'm 
sorry about our date. I had to work today and had left him alone in 
the house all day. I just couldn't do that to him all evening too."

"You worked today?"

"Yes. I'll admit that the date kind of slipped my mind, but we had 
to get him some clothes and … Well, let's just say, I'm totally 
clueless about dating." Jerry stared down at the floor feeling very 
uneasy. 

Jenny looked at the big man realizing that although he was big and 
rough looking, inside was a vulnerable little boy that was only now 
learning how to make his way through adult relationships. She 
smiled at him and said, "Why don't we have dinner and just relax? 
It sounds like you've had a rough day and can use an easy night."

Unable to believe how nice she was being about everything, Jerry 
said, "That's great. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Bill came out of the hallway wearing his new clothes. The shirt 
was overlarge, but that was necessary for the cast. In this good 
hand, he held the bag. His old clothes were hung over his cast. 
Smiling he said, "This is the second new outfit that I've had this 
year."

Jerry realized that he had bought two outfits for his son since he 
had left the house. The only way to interpret that statement was 
that his wife hadn't bought the kid any new clothes yet this year. 
The time would come when Bill and he would have a long talk 
about the treatment they had suffered at the hands of his ex-wife.

"You have a tag. Let me get it for you," said Jenny as looked over 
Bill's new clothes. She bent down and removed a label from the 
shirt that was hanging under the cast. Bill watched her with wide 
eyes. Seeing the expression on his face, she asked, "What?"

"You're nice to me."

"What do you mean?"

"You're nice to me," replied Bill. He'd never had an adult woman 
make any kind of fuss over him. His mother barely tolerated him 
and his grandmother totally ignored him. 

Jenny looked at Bill in shock realizing that he was starved for 
attention. Her eyes flicked between Bill and Jerry. Both of them 
had suffered horribly from women in the past and she could see 
that they needed a giving woman in their lives. In a way, that 
realization took a tremendous pressure off of her. She ran a hand 
over his short cropped hair and said, "I'm surprised that a big 
strong guy like you doesn't have a ton of girls at school that like 
you a lot."

Bill stared at her, lip trembling at the praise that had come 
unsought. Slowly he turned to his father and said, "Maybe we 
should get to the restaurant."

Jerry took the dirty clothes and the bag from Bill. With a wink at 
Jenny, he said, "I think that would be a good idea. I've heard your 
stomach growling."  

Almost on cue, Bill's stomach growled. As the three of them went 
to the car, Bill said, "Dad was right, you are nice."

Jenny blushed as she followed them to the truck. Both of them had 
a very disarming way of coming to a compliment that took her by 
surprise. Jerry was embarrassed that his son had said that, but he 
couldn't help but agree. At the truck, Bill asked, "Would you mind 
sitting in the middle? It hurts my ribs to scoot along the seat."

"No problem," said Jenny as she climbed into the truck. Bill got in 
next to her and Jerry closed the door. 

Getting in the driver's seat, Jerry said, "I'm sorry to drive you in 
this truck, but it was better than the Camaro for him. When I get 
the paint job done on the truck, it'll look a whole lot better."

After a pause, he added, "I guess that doesn't help much now."

Jenny had seen the truck and the Camaro. Although she had 
expected him to show up in the Camaro, she had realized that he 
could have arrived in this one. She smiled and said, "I understand."

Bill looked out the window of the truck and broke out into a smile 
as an idea came to him. He asked, "Dad, can I use your cell 
phone?"

Surprised by the request, Jerry fished the cell phone from his shirt 
pocket and handed it to Jenny. She took it and handed it over to 
Bill with a puzzled expression. Jerry tried to come up with 
something to say to Jenny, but his mind kept coming up with a 
blank. Finally, he said, "I've never tried this place before, but Bill 
recommended it."

Jenny replied, "That's okay. I remember the day that you came into 
my place the first time."

The comment made Jerry break into laughter. He must have looked 
like an idiot trying to figure out the menu. He said, "I remember 
that day very well. I kept looking at the menu wondering what 
language it was."

Thinking back to that day, she asked, "So what item on the menu 
threw you for a loop?"

"Everything."

Jenny laughed and shook her head. She wondered how long it 
would be before Jerry would relax. Although she only knew him 
from her place, he was a usually a good conversationalist. 

It didn't take long for Bill to make a couple of calls. When he was 
done, he handed the phone back to his father via Jenny. As the 
truck approached the mall, Bill said, "Dad, could you drop me off 
at the mall? My friends are going to be there and I thought I'd hang 
out around there with them while you are eating dinner. I can get 
something to eat at the mall."

Jerry leaned forward and looked around Jenny at his son, realizing 
only after he had done it that it looked like he was staring at her 
chest. His face colored at the thought, but he wanted to make sure 
that he could see the expression on his son's face. He asked, "Are 
you sure you want to do that?"

"Yeah. You don't need me on your date." Bill smiled and was 
about to tease his father when he realized that he didn't know how 
his father would react. He was going to drop it, but thought about 
what Abe would say in this situation. "It's hard to kiss your date 
with your son watching."

Jenny laughed while Jerry blushed. He knew exactly how it was 
that Bill had come up with that comment. He smiled as he growled, 
"You've been around Abe too much."

Jenny knew about Abe from conversations during lunch. One of 
these days she was going to have to meet this kid. He sounded like 
an interesting character. In fact, most of the people that Jerry 
talked about were interesting characters. 

Seeing that his father had reacted without getting angry, Bill 
replied, "Hey, you introduced us."

"When I do something stupid, I really do something stupid." 

Giving up, Jerry sat up straight and drove over to the mall. 
Stopping outside one of the entrances, he noticed Larry leaning 
against a post as he waited for Bill. Jerry got out and opened the 
door for his son. Moving slowly from the pain, Bill climbed out as 
Larry approached the truck. The kids greeted each other with 
minimal talk. 

Reaching into his pocket, Jerry extracted his wallet to give a 
twenty to his son. Handing the money to Bill, he said, "You kids 
have fun. I'll be by to pick you up at nine. Is that okay?"

"Sure, Dad. Have fun!" called Bill while he walked with Larry to 
wait for the other kids to show up for a Saturday night at the mall.

Jerry returned to the truck. As he pulled away from the curb, he 
said, "We've got an hour and a half for dinner."

An uneasy silence descended in the truck as Jerry made his way to 
the Italian Restaurant. As he pulled into the parking lot, he said, 
"You know. I didn't even ask if you like Italian food."

Jenny replied, "I love Italian."

The restaurant was busy. It was always busy on Saturday nights 
and the pair had to wait at the bar for a table. The bar was crowded 
and noisy. Poor acoustics made it difficult to hold a conversation. 
Jenny drank a glass of wine while Jerry drank a glass of iced tea. 
The conversation was forced and stilted as Jerry struggled to find 
things to talk about. Finally, Jerry sat back and said, "My favorite 
color is red."

Raising one eyebrow and looking at him wondering what he was 
saying. "Red is a nice color."

Jerry laughed at the inane comment that he had made. "I meant to 
say that your dress is pretty and that I like the color, but I guess I'm 
a little nervous. Somehow, I can talk to you at the Crimson Rose, 
but my brain is shutting down here. I guess the idea that this is a 
date makes me nervous."

The explanation was honest and came from the heart. She leaned 
forward and fondled her hair. "The whole purpose of a date is to 
boast and brag about yourself so that you impress the other. I take 
it that you aren't used to boasting or bragging."

"I guess I'm not used to talking about me," replied Jerry as he 
thought about it. He wondered what he had to boast or brag about. 
There was his strength and big size, but he didn't view those as 
assets. "What would I boast about?"

She laughed at the raw honesty of the question. "I don't really want 
to hear boasting or bragging. I'd rather hear about what all is going 
on in your life and how you feel about them."

"My life is a real mess. The ex-wife has complicated things 
tremendously and I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with all 
of it. The high points of my life are that work is going well, I like 
where I'm living, I'm enjoying fixing up my two old cars, I'm 
seeing you, and I'm getting closer to my son." Jerry was quiet for a 
minute and then said, "You know, I guess things aren't as bad as I 
sometimes think they are."

"I'm pleased that you include me in your list of high points."

Jerry hadn't even realized that he had said that, but it was true. He 
did look forward to seeing her at lunch and had wanted to take her 
out on a date. He replied, "One of the highest points. It's right up 
there with getting to know my son."

Their name was called to let them know that their table was ready. 
After grabbing their drinks, they followed the hostess to the table 
and were left with menus in hand. The conversation took a back 
seat as they went through the process of examining the menu and 
selecting their meal. A few minutes later the waitress arrived and 
took their order. 

When the waitress left, a moment of silence was left. Jenny said, 
"You were telling me about getting to know your son."

"Well, when I lived at home I was isolated from the lives of my 
kids. Now, I'm getting to know him and I'm really impressed with 
the kid."

"What impresses you the most?" asked Jenny.

"Well, he was battered two days ago. Yet, he takes it upon himself 
to get an excuse so that we can be alone on the date. I can't 
imagine what we would talk about with him here. I know that he 
took an Abe moment to tease me, but I would have done the same 
thing to him on his first date." Jerry laughed as he pictured the 
future when his son started dating. 

He grinned, "I'll even get to drive him to the date."

Jenny giggled and said, "Well, don't be too hard on him."

The conversation flowed from there. They discussed what kinds of 
things they were doing outside of work. When Jerry realized that 
he was dominating the conversation, he backed off and allowed 
Jenny to tell more about her life. He learned that she had a 
disastrous affair with a married man and was only now getting 
over it. 

The time passed too quickly. It was with real regret that the hour 
approached nine and they had to leave to pick up Bill at the mall. 
As they walked to the car, Jenny slipped her hand in his. Her first 
reaction was surprise at how hard and rough his hands were, but 
that was replaced by the sense of strength that his hands conveyed. 
His first reaction was complete shock that she would take his hand 
and keep holding it. His stomach churned as he wondered about 
kissing her at the end of the date. He commented, "I like this."

She knew that he was referring to holding hands with her. When he 
opened the truck door for her, she turned and kissed him. He was 
very surprised at the passion she managed to put into it. This 
wasn't a simple peck on the check type of kiss and caused both his 
upper and lower head to swell. Breaking the kiss, she said, "We 
can't have Bill's sacrifice be for nothing."

The lighthearted statement broke through the fog that had 
descended in Jerry's mind. A great big smile of relief broke over 
his face as he said, "I really like that."

She giggled as she climbed into the truck. He closed the door and 
went to the driver's side. It was at that time that she did something 
that he had never seen another woman do. In particular, she leaned 
across the seat and unlocked his door for him. It was a considerate 
move that was as surprising as the kiss.

After picking up Bill, they took Jenny home. Summoning his 
courage, Jerry actually made the move to kiss her when he walked 
her to the door. It was much easier since she had already made the 
first move. It was a short kiss because they had an audience in the 
car. Still, it was more than Jerry had expected for the whole 
evening.

As the pair drove away, Jerry asked, "Did you have a good time 
with your friends?"

"Yes," answered Bill. Looking over at his father, he asked, "Did 
you have a good time with your girlfriend?"

"Yes, I did. Thanks."

