I've always liked Saturday mornings with my family.

We do nothing special. We simply enjoy a long breakfast together in our pijamas, listening to the radio and eating pecan pie or something like that. Linda has a flower shop which is of course open on Saturdays but she always manages to be at home on Saturday morning.

I was preparing the second cup of coffee for everybody and the radio was transmiting « Who got the hooch », with the result that both of my children were singing along, when my phone ringed.

"Hello, Charlie Brown !" said a warm voice while my daughter turned the radio's volume down.

After so many years, I still recognized the voice.

"Hi, Franklin !" I answered putting the speakerphone "How are you ?"

"I'm very fine and it's great to hear from you! What are you doing?"

I told him about Linda and my children and he told me about his own family in turn. LeRoy, with whom I had spoken the previous night, was the oldest son and he also had a daughter.

"You know, I didn't realize that you owned the Summit Restaurant, Piperita Patty told me that. And we've been there so many times!"

"You probably wouldn't have recognized me, Marcie didn't when she went here!" he mused.

He didn't know about Pig Pen.

"You know, we weren't speaking anymore since I was sixteen. I had confronted him about the drugs and he told me to mind my own business, yelling insults and hitting me for good measure. I even went to his parents but they simply said that he wasn't listening to them anymore and stuff like that"

I didn't know about that. But of courser, Franklin lived at the other side oft he city on that time.

"Then I obliged. We had been friends but I didn't know what to do and adults weren't helping. Eventually I spoke with my mother and she said I should've avoided such bad companies, even if I never did drugs".

I sighed: "Well, I think any parent would've said the same thing. He needed professional help…"

There was silence for a moment, then Franklin said: "LeRoy told me something about a reunion"

Like Peppermint and Marcie, he was enthusiastic about the reunion and accepted to organize it in his restaurant.

"I'll reserve a room just for all of us, without other people. If everyone brings family there will be about 25 people, that will not be a problem. I'm looking forward to it!" he said happily.

"Why does everyone call you Charlie Brown?" asked Jim leaning back on the chair.

"I was neither the only 'Charles' nor the only 'Brown' at school. There were Charlie Esposito, Charlie Patton…"

"Charlie Patton?! Are you that old?"

I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, there were more than one Charlie and I became Charlie Brown"

"Thank you for calling me James Brown by the way" said Jim grumpily "nobody mocks me because of that"

"Oh, please. You teenagers don't listen tot hat music anymore…"

OOO

After breakfast I phoned my mother, hoping that Frieda's parents still lived in the neighborhood.

"Frieda Rich? The girl with curls? Of course, she's a hairstyler!" said my mom when I told her what I needed "she works in St. Paul but I don't know the shop's name"

I had no trouble finding 'Frieda's Hairstyling' on the phone book and I called. Abby sat in front of me and showed me the list: Frieda was the last one whe had to track down.

"Frieda's Hairstyling, my name is Sophie" answered a young voice.

"Hello, my name is Charles Brown. I'm a childhood friend of Ms. Rich, I am looking for her"

"Just a moment, sir"

I heard Sophie whispering "Frieda, one Mr. Charles Brown is looking for you. He says he was a friend of yours…"

"Charlie Brown? You must be kidding me!" she answered. A second later I heard her voice greeting me:

"Are you really Charlie Brown? I can't believe it*"

"Frieda! Still have natural curls?"

"Of course I do, as curly as ever!"

Frieda worked near St. Catherine's university and had a partner but no children. She asked a lot of questions about me, my family, my job and baseball.

"We were so unfair with you, Charlie Brown. We all were horrible at playing baseball!" she confessed with a laugh "Never touched a ball again after elementary school. But why were you looking for me in the first place?"

"Well, I'm trying to organize a reunion with the good old childhood friends… Lucy, Linus, Peppermint and so on"

"That's cool! When? Where?"

She wrote the date and the address down – she didn't know that Franklin owned that restaurant as well and I felt better.

"Charlie Brown, there is some bad news I should tell you since you probably don't know" she said in the end, cautiously.

"If you are talking about Pig Pen I already know. That's why I'm organizing the reunion in the first place"

She was silent.

"You know, there was something between me and Pig Pen during high school. We didn't attend the same schools and I didn't know about the drugs… on our dates he was always clean. When I found out… well, I didn't want to fight with a drug-addicted at sixteen. I thought I couldn't plan a future together with him and I left him. Upon knowing that he was dead… well, it wasn't easy" she concluded.

I could percieve that she had thought a lot about it lately and that she felt very guilty.

"I don't think you should reproach yourself. My sister works with drug addicts, they sometimes have family and children and do drugs nevertheless. You were a teenager and one can understand that you just wanted to date him. What he needed was professional help and not a girlfriend…"

"Thank you, Charlie Brown. That's very nice of you"

OOO

"Ok, almost everybody is coming. We are only waiting for Schroeder now" I said.

"Maybe he's sent you an email" suggested Jim.

I opened the mailbox and there it was, coming directly from Schroeder's address.

Dear Charlie Brown

I was very surprised and happy to read your message! How are you doing?

I haven't heard from our old childhood friends in forever, even if my parents told me that Linus is a doctor and Lucy an attorney. I assume you know more since you're organizing this reunion.

Speaking of which, I will of course come to the reunion if I'm not working. If you've already organized something, please let me know and I will confirm my presence as soon as possible. Plase do that per email because I don't answer my phone when I'm practicing or rehearsing.

My parents also told me that our former friend Pig Pen has overdosed and has died. I was very sorry to hear that, he was a nice child even if he later turned troublesome.

Please let me know about the reunion!

Yours

Ed

The email had been written at 2 a.m., probably after a concert. I wrote back hoping that he could've come on 23rd December.

OOO

"Dad, I've just realized that aunt Sally doesn't know about the reunion" said Abby.

"She is coming soon anyway"

Sally used to visit us with her little daughter and sometimes with her husband every Saturday. She was very careful that her daughter didn't spend too much time in front oft he TV. Every Saturday morning, if she wasn't working, she would bring Sarah tot he supermarket, at the park and then to us. Sarah absolutely loved to play with my children and with the dog.

At about 10 a.m. the dorbell rang and I knew it was Sally even without looking.

My wife entered the living room with Sally and Sarah tiptoeing around her mother, looking for Nemo. As Jim arrived with the dog, Sarah ran to hug Nemo without even considering my son standing by the door.

"Sarah, your cousin is standing in fron of you. You should say hello" reproached Sally.

Sarah didn't look perturbed. She looked at Jim for a second, said ‚Hi!' waving her hand and returned happily her attention to the dog.

"Sally, Abigail had an idea yesterday" I said.

"Oh my. Should I worry?"

"It depends. She talked me into organizing a reunion of our childhood friends to remember Pig Pen"

Sally rolled her eyes and looked at Abby „Can't you simply think about boys like all other teenagers?" Abby burst into laughter.

"And the thing is" I went on "that I found all of them and they're all coming. I'm only waiting for confirmation from Schroeder. And Linus and Lucy are finally both coming home after 3 years"

"Oh, my sweet Babboo is coming!" she said happily, making both Jim and Abby look disgusted. My children knew about her crush for Linus but their reaction whenever she uttered that pet name amused Sally to no end.

"I simply don't get how you, of all people, had a crush on Linus. You are the last two people I can imagine together" said Abby handling a cup of coffee to my sister.

"Well. As for childhood, we were children. Linus once said that he wanted to marry me and I decided that he had to be my boyfriend. As for high school, I think any girl would've gone on a date with Linus"

"Really ?" asked Jim, curious. He was always eager to know how other boys or men managed to get dates "Why?"

"Well" said Sally frowning "it was a combination of many things. He was good looking but not so beautiful to scare people off. He excelled at school and at sports but never ever bragged about it. He was the sweetest and most caring person but didn't let other people tell him what he should think or believe, what he should wear and so on. He was very cultivated and read a lot but also liked sports, comincs and TV shows and didn't like doing assignments, like any other boy. And then he was endlessly witty"

"Really, sometimes it was embarrassing. We ate lunch or walked around and every girl couldn't take her eyes off him. For a best fried it was kind of depressing. Well, SAlly, are you coming too? Spouses and children invited, 23rd December at Summit's Restaurant"

"Sarah and I can come but I'm afraid Josh will be working again. Oh, well" she shrugged "he knows almost nobody in that group…"

OOO

In the afternoon I finally received an email from Schroeder, who confirmed his presence as well.

"It's unbelievable" I told my family that evening "I thought nobody would've come and after two days I've found everyone and I have confirmation from everyone"

""See?" mocked Abby "now we only have to wait until the 23rd. I can't wait*" exclaimed Abby.