Larry Mondello
Lawrence Steven Mondello was born on Christmas Day. From the start, he was a happy baby. He had two older siblings, a brother Frank, age ten and a sister Debbie, age seven. His parents were named Robert and Lorraine. They called the brown haired, blue eyed baby Larry. When Larry started school, he met another little boy that was going to be his best friend for more than six years. The boy was named Theodore James Cleaver.
When Larry was eight years old, his brother Frank married his childhood sweetheart Nancy, Larry got bored during the long wedding and reception. Lorraine tried to find Debbie, who was fifteen her future husband. She had a diary she wrote in every day. Larry found the key and would read her entries while she was still in school. One afternoon, Beaver, who was Theodore's nickname was there. They went inside her room and Larry told him who the pictures were on Debbie's wall.
"That's Kooky, from the show she loves, and that's Troy Donahue, she saw this movie he was in and made Mom take her to it three times. Hey look Beaver, here's Debbie's diary, I like to read what she says. I haven't saw this one yet. Listen. Dear Diary, I saw that cute boy on the bus again today, He asked me his name and I called him fresh. My parents do not understand me and I wish that my little brother would stop acting like a pig at dinner."
Beaver laughed at that part. While Larry continued reading, Lorraine walked into Debbie's room.
"Larry! how many times have I asked you to stay out of your sisters room! Now get out right now, Beaver you go on home and Larry will spend the remainder of the afternoon in his room and think about his punishment."
Thinking always meant either grounding him from the movies on Saturday, or from television for a week. Besides, mom embarrassed him in front of Beaver. He put some clothes into his suitcase and sneaked out the back door. He was running away. He walked to Beaver's house. Ward was still at work and June was grocery shopping and his big brother Wally was doing his homework. The boys hid Larry in the bathroom in their room. Later on, Beaver wanted to eat in his room and play like he was in a hotel. Larry and Beaver shared a plate of dinner.
"Your mom doesn't fix meatloaf like my mom does, and I hate carrots and peas too."
"Well maybe we'll have something good for dessert like ice cream or chocolate pudding."
Beaver replied, the telephone rang and a worried Lorraine was tearfully telling June how Larry had ran away. Ward told her to come on over and he would try to help find him. She had Debbie drive her over. They arrived and she came inside, Debbie remained outside in the car because her hair was in curlers. As Lorraine was telling Ward and June how upset she was, a shadow passed the window from Ward's den.
"Mr. Cleaver! That's Larry's suitcase! why is going up into the air. "
"Excuse me Mrs. Mondello, I'll just go upstairs and see what's going on."
Ward replied. A few minutes later, Larry came down with Ward and Debbie drove them home. Larry was not punished. When Larry was eleven, his father got transferred to a town an hour away from Mayfield, Larry was upset and Debbie was devastated. They moved to this new town and Larry went to a new school. He became friends with a boy named Danny, but it wasn't the same as Beaver. He remembered the things they done together, like driving a motor cart into the street and the time Beaver and Larry got into a fight when he stayed all night when Beaver lived at his old house and after making up, ate seven chocolate bars and threw up in the bathroom at midnight.
When Larry graduated from high school, he went on to The University Of Connecticut where he was studying to be a physician. The year before he graduated, he met a woman named Wendy. They married two years later. A year after this, a daughter was born to them, they named her Andrea Marie, two years later, another daughter was born, they named her Gina Frances, and two years later, their third daughter was born, they named her Joanna Teresa. Soon after Joanna was born, Wendy became distant and sometimes violent. Larry was sometimes in his internship for days at a time, leaving her to care for the girls.
He got his mom to care for the girls sometimes at the request of Wendy , who claimed she was tired. One afternoon, Larry got a call from Lorraine.
"Larry! the girls have bruises all over their legs and Andrea told me that her mommy hit her with a belt because she spilled her milk on the tablecloth."
This concerned Larry so badly that he told the doctor he was under that he had an emergency. As he drove home, he could hear from the driveway, Joanna screaming. He walked into the house and saw Andrea standing on a stool a bottle in a pot of water on a burner and another pot filled with a pack of frankfurters. Andrea was only five years old, too little to cook in his opinion.
"Hi sweetheart! what's going on?
"I'm cooking wienies for supper Daddy! And Joanna is hungry. I get to feed her tonight."
"Where's Mommy?"
"She's asleep."
Larry walked into Joanna's nursery and saw the baby screaming at the top of her lungs, her diaper was soaked and so were her pajamas. He unpinned the diaper and saw a severe diaper rash on the baby's buttocks and privates. It was obvious that she had the same urine soaked diaper on for hours. Larry took her into the bathroom, washed her gently in Johnson's Baby Soap, washed her hair in Johnson's Baby Shampoo. Patted her dry and gently put some diaper rash cream onto the baby's buttocks and privates. After feeding her a bottle and some cereal, he changed her and put some more diaper rash cream on her and rocked her to sleep.
Meanwhile, Andrea and Gina ate a hot dog and some chips and drank a glass of milk. Larry ate two hot dogs and some chips and a glass of iced tea after tending to Joanna's needs. He then looked in on Wendy. He was furious as he looked in and saw her lying in bed, fully clothed an open bottle of pills on the dresser , along with a bottle of vodka.
'WAKE UP!" "What the HELL are you doing! One of the girls could have gotten hold of these pills and swallowed some! And the baby was screaming her lungs out and Andrea was cooking supper! She could have set the house on fire, and Gina was covered from head to toe with mud where she played outside today. Come ON WENDY! GET UP!"
Wendy moaned, then vomited all over herself, after urinating all over herself. Larry made her get into the bathroom and take a shower. The whole time she was in there, she was screaming and cursing like a sailor, telling Larry how much she hated him and the girls, how she wanted out of the house and responsible of being a wife and mother. She left him two days later. Larry got Lorraine to help him with the girls while he was working and divorced Wendy under the grounds of mental cruelty.
When Larry finally became a doctor, he moved back to Mayfield and bought a house near the one he grew up at. He saw his old friend Beaver at the park one afternoon. He was now married to Violet Rutherford and they had a small son named Kippy. One afternoon, Larry was shopping at the grocery store and Joanna, who was a year-and-a half was in the seat part, and Andrea and Gina were walking beside him when a woman that looked very familiar was walking down the same isle. She stopped and then smiled.
"Larry Mondello! is that you?"
"Yes, Hey! You're Judy Hensler aren't you!"
"Yes it's me! except I'm Judy Johnson now."
Judy was a girl that Larry went to elementary school with until he moved. She was taller and more beautiful with brown hair and blue eyes. She told Larry that her husband had died last year and they had no children because when he was a teenager, he contacted mumps and could not have a child. Larry told her about Wendy and how she had just abandoned him and the girls. Judy's eyes filled with tears.
"That's so sad. Hey, I have an idea, why don't you and the girls come over to my house Saturday afternoon, we'll pack a lunch and go to the park, then later on I'll barbecue some steaks on the grill and we'll go see a drive in movie."
"That sounds great Judy, how about it girls? Would you like to go to Mrs. Johnson's house?"
"Yes Daddy!"
Andrea and Gina both said at the same time. Many dates later, the girls and Larry were all loving Judy, and she loved them as well. Andrea, who was six, and Gina, who was four were laughing again and Joanna, who turned two was calling Judy, Mama. Larry proposed to her. They married a year later and since Wendy didn't want the girls, Judy got to adopt them. When Andrea was eight, Gina six and Joanna was four, Judy became pregnant and gave birth to a little boy, They named the baby William Lawrence Mondello.