A Funny Thing Happened

We attended an end-of-the-summer party at Marianne Brush’s. I went undefeated in beanbag toss and bocce ball but missed not being able to have Dave as a partner. He is off crutches but still on the DL as far as sports are concerned. He did play his guitar along with John Shearer for a couple hours and sang a lot of Cracker songs plus a couple of my requests, “The Man In me” and “Werewolves of London.” He did one by Lady Gaga that Missy sang to – Voodoo Daddy’s daughter was looking good with her hair a dark purple. One of her friends taught me a drinking game they were playing with cards called Kings. I didn’t join in, to their disappointment, but it involved people drawing cards, and each number means something – like all women drink, or everyone drinks. If a seven comes up, the last person to point to the ceiling (“Heaven”) drinks. Nine is the rhyme card; you go around the circle until someone cannot come up with a word that rhymes with the previous one.

Sunday Tom won all three board games before we quit to fill out our football picks. In the afternoon we saw “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at the Dunes Summer Theater in Michiana Shores. Dick Hagelberg had won four tickets at a silent auction. One of the cast members playing a courtesan was ill so a very tall, hairy man took her place. Afterwards, the four of us went to our condo’s annual picnic. It took place in a garage because of rainy conditions, but it was fun. I had a hot beef sandwich similar to what was served Friday at IUN’s end-of-the summer bash. The host and hostess (the Garzas) were very nice, gave us a tour of their unit, and promised to invite me back when he next hosts a Texas Hold-‘Em tournament. Afterwards we played a round of bridge while I watched the Eagles game (a loss) out of the corner of my eye.

LeeLee Devenney attended a celebration of the Fiftieth anniversary of the Peace Corps in D.C. Among the festivities was a dinner at the Afghan embassy. In Afghanistan she was a nurse and met husband Bob. With her encouragement I am continuing the “Missing Tiara” story, adding these paragraphs: Jay played right guard when Jimmy was center on Mr. Beck’s Hundred-Pound team. When they went against an Ambler team, half of the guys lined up against them seemed to have mustaches. Jay went on to be a starting varsity lineman even though he probably didn’t weigh 140 pounds soaking wet. At a party at Ricky’s house he set up his drum set and jammed with a couple guitar players. Jimmy recalled Sissy sitting on his lap and helping him with the cymbals. He had an ancient pre-WW II car that devoured almost as much oil as it guzzled gas. One time on a double date at the 309 Drive-In Jay made a deal with Jimmy that the couples switch seats between features. It took some maneuvering to pull that off. Jay responded to Jimmy’s nostalgic email: “Suddenly I feel thrust back in time – all these memories come flooding back.” He recalled a half-dozen guys piling into his 1940 Buick Monday afternoons, tooling down Bethlehem Pike, and picking up WIBG’s latest top 50 list at a Flourtown record store, then maybe bowling a couple games before stopping for milkshakes back in Fort Washington. For sock hops the record sstore loaned DJ Jimmy several dozen .45s on condition that the school purchase four of them. They went right into Jimmy’s collection, compensation, he rationalized, for the gas mileage.

Jay was glad Rel could make it to Wendy’s. Voted “Most Likely to Succeed,” Rel seemed destined to be a banker or CEO but first ended up in Vietnam and then opted to start a small business rather than stay on the corporate treadmill. In high school he dated an Italian-American named Marianne during an age when many thought a Catholic-Protestant romance scandalous. He had gone to grade school with Zollos, Grassos, Mallozzis, Tambourinos, and Tucciaronis and saw it as no big deal, and in fact he paved the way for others. The so-called Italian girls fascinated Jimmy when he started junior high. They seemed to have the bodies of women and weren’t shy when it came to interacting with him or anyone, including Blacks from North Hills. Jimmy had been in a project group with Marianne and loved her gravelly voice, infectious laugh, and trendy glasses. She was so un-self-conscious about wearing them that Jimmy got over his fear of being called four-eyed. They were buddies in tenth grade homeroom, and when she started going with Rel, Jimmy thought, “Good for him, he’s a lucky guy.” Once at a sock hop a crowd formed around an Italian couple dirty dancing to a Gene Vincent song, “Lotta Lovin’.” Standing next to Jimmy, Marianne said with a wink, “Wanna have a go?” Turning beet red, Jimmy was speechless. Fifty years later, on the dance floor during the reunion Jimmy mentioned the incident to Marianne, and she replied, “You should have taken me up on it.” “Better late than never,” he replied, as DJ Fred put on “Summertime Blues.” Jimmy ended up dating a Catholic girl from North Philly– Polish, not Italian – and it led to what some back then called a “mixed marriage.”