Chapter 7. At Baby's House

It was a great two days, but I'm sad dropping Baby off. I'm not sure when I can see her again.

"Here we are at my house."

Here? This looks like a museum. It's so huge and fancy. I've never been in a house that big.

"Well, when your father is a doctor, money isn't a concern. But the house was actually in my mother's family and she inherited it. My room is on the second floor. You could throw rocks at my window and I'd sneak out! Ha, ha."

I hug and kiss her, and she hops out of the car to run through the gate and up the driveway with her bag. "I'll call you soon," Baby says.

"Mom and Daddy, it's great to be home for Thanksgiving. After I get my bag unpacked, I'd like to sit down and talk to you."

"Okay," said Mom. "Your dad is on call at the hospital, but he's waiting at home today. What did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I know you don't approve of Johnny, but he found me again. He didn't know how to get in touch because neither Kellerman's nor my college would give out that information. So he drove to Mount Holyoke and yelled outside my dorm to see if I was there. My roommate heard him yell, 'Frances Houseman, are you in there?' She came and told me but she also said, 'Better take a look before you go out. He might be a stalker, but he sure is a good-looking hunk.'"

"I couldn't believe he was there. I thought we lost each other, but we are still in love and we've been talking on the phone pretty often. I found out he lives only a few miles away from us in Brooklyn. After Max fired him for being involved with a guest-ME, Daddy asked Max to hire him back after finding out it was Robbie who got Penny pregnant and not her good friend Johnny. But he didn't want to work at Kellerman's after being mistreated by Max, his wimpy grandson Neil, and the waiters. he finished the season working at the Sheldrake Hotel about 20 minutes away from Kellerman's, and now he has a full-time job dancing on Broadway in the musical, Hello Dolly."

"Daddy, you told me everyone was alike and deserved a fair break. It isn't Johnny's fault that he was born into a family that didn't have much money. But he's worked hard to make a living, and he's a good person," said Baby.

"I definitely misjudged him. I thought he got Penny pregnant. But I still think he's too old for you. He's 24 and you just turned 18," said Dr. Houseman. "Not only that, but when I was in high school, we serious students would have to walk past a group of hoodlums in black leather jackets who laughed and made fun of us. That's what Johnny and the other dancers remind me of."

Marjorie replied, "I agree about the age difference, but even though you still think of her as Baby, she's really a young woman, and a very intelligent one, too. She's mature for her age."

"Many young teenagers in developing countries have already had two children by my age, Daddy, but that doesn't mean I want to have one any time soon," she replied. "And Johnny wouldn't have ever gotten Penny pregnant. They have been friends since elementary school, but she's just his dance partner. He's not a hoodlum. He's very caring and looks after Penny because her mother kicked her out of the house when she was 16," advised Baby. "Some people thought Penny was a good match for Johnny, but he thinks of her just as a friend."

"You said I looked wonderful doing the last dance with Johnny at Kellerman's, but you never asked how I learned to dance."

"I was afraid to ask," replied Dr. Houseman.

"This is what happened. As you now know, Robbie got Penny pregnant but wouldn't take responsibility. I asked to borrow $250 from you to give her for an abortion since Robbie wouldn't pay. Someone had to take Penny's place dancing the Mambo with Johnny at the Sheldrake Hotel or they would lose their season's earnings. Everyone else on the entertainment staff had jobs and couldn't learn the routine, so I helped. Johnny is a great teacher and leader. He taught me the dance routine in the studio on several days and we practiced the lift in Mountain Lake. I was afraid of doing the lift, so he raised me up in the water. If I couldn't balance myself, I would fall in the water and not be hurt. He was very protective of me."

"The man really needs to know what he's doing to lift a dancer over his head, and Johnny does. It's about balancing my pelvic bones on his hands. If a dancer goes too far over his head, then she's going to fall forward, behind his back and maybe injure both of them. It's not all on him, though. I have to hold my body up, not just hang there like a limp towel. I extend from my fingers to my toes and use my arms to balance, but he's the one getting me into the air when I jump up."

"We danced 'Mambo Magic' at the Sheldrake Hotel while you were playing Bingo at Kellerman's, I was still afraid to do the lift. So the first and only lift you saw me do was at the last dance of the season when Johnny came back. He was very proud of me. By the way, the Sheldrake is where I saw the Schumachers and suspected them of stealing wallets, especially because I saw two wallets fall out of her knitting bag one afternoon."

"Anyway, I am telling you all this because I hope you will see him as I do. I'd really like to invite him to have Thanksgiving dinner at our house so you can get to know him better. We are not going to lose each other again. Would it be okay if he joins us?"

"Well, it doesn't look like we have much of a choice, said Dr. Houseman. You've made your mind up. I can see you're not a baby anymore. So go ahead and invite him."

"Thanks, Daddy and Mom. You're the best and you won't be sorry," said Baby. "I'll call him tonight. But today is so sad. We'll have to watch President Kennedy's funeral on TV. I'm kind of glad Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald yesterday. That guy killed our president as well as the Dallas policeman J. D. Tippit. Now taxpayers don't have to pay for a trial and keep the murderer in prison for life. Although, I seem to remember Texas is a capital punishment state, so maybe we wouldn't have had to feed him for long!"

Marjorie whispered confidentially, "Jake, I've read that when parents try to drive two people apart, it ends up making them more likely to stay together. I think if we just let it take its course, they might break up," said Marjorie. "After all, he is her first boyfriend."