VAMPING THE OC
Part I
NOBLESSE OBLIGE
Fighting the Good Fight
Dinner was over and Kirsten was pouring Sandy his second and her third glass of wine when Sandy's curiosity got the better of him. He pointed to the maroon booklet lying beside Seth's plate. "Okay, what is that? I can make out 'Opportunities' and. 'Harbor'. What's the rest?"
Seth picked up the booklet and held it so that both of his parents could read the title:
Volunteer Opportunities
For Harbor Students
2003 – 2004
"It's one of Dr. Kim's ideas. Give the over privileged an opportunity to help the underprivileged. Now, if I want to graduate from your alma mater dear mater, I must give up 25 hours of my life to a 'worthy cause' this year and every subsequent year I attend Harbor." Seth rolled his eyes. He pulled a sheet of paper from the booklet and handed it to Sandy. "I spent the afternoon going through it and these are the four finalists."
Sandy took the list from Seth and examined it. His eyebrows arched upward as he read the names of the four agencies Seth had written down, but he passed the list on to Kirsten without comment. Her reaction to its contents was visibly less enthusiastic than Sandy's. Kirsten's mouth tightened and she gave Sandy a sharp look before laying the paper, face down, on the table.
"Is there any significance in the way you ordered your finalists?" Sandy asked carefully.
Seth held his hand out to his mother for the list. He studied it for a moment before answering. "They're in alphabetical order." He looked at Sandy quizzically, unsure if the question might have been meant as a joke.
Sandy smiled thinly. "No, I was wondering if their order indicated your preference. None of these places are in Orange County and the first name on your list, the Chino Valley YMCA, is also the farthest from Newport."
"Why would you have an organization in Chino on your list, honey?" Kirsten's tone earned her a warning look from Sandy that she ignored. "What could Joyce have been thinking to allow agencies from those areas to be included? Why didn't she include Watts, while she was at it?" Kirsten took a sip of wine. Since Dr. Kim was unavailable to hear Kirsten vent her displeasure, she contented herself with glaring at Sandy as though he was somehow to blame for this situation.
"Chino isn't Watts, Mom! Sure, it's not Newport either. I checked on the Internet – it's working class, sort of lower middle." Seth stared at Kirsten.
"Seth, you're right, it isn't Watts; but it has some tough neighborhoods – places you wouldn't want to run out of gas at night. Your mother and I are just concerned…" Sandy saw a flash of something in his son's eyes and changed tack. "It's at least a forty-five minute drive each way on the freeway. That's a lot of driving for a volunteer job."
"You're worried about me driving on the freeway?" Seth was incredulous. "You can't go to the grocery store for milk here without getting on the freeway. I can drive myself to San Diego to COMICON but I can't drive across town? What's up with you guys?" Seth waited, shifting his gaze between his parents.
"Seth, you're mother feels…" At a muffled sound from Kirsten's end of the table, Sandy paused to take a sip of wine and then began again. "Your mother and I both feel that if you went through that booklet again you could find other equally good opportunities for volunteering that were…" Sandy studied his son's skeptical expression. "Better suited for your first volunteer job and closer to home. You don't have any experience in life outside of Newport"
"So Dad, which is it, I'm too good for Chino or too young and naive to be allowed out of the bubble?" He leaned back in his chair and gestured broadly. "Can I still cross the street without asking permission?"
"Seth, don't do that with your chair and stop being melodramatic. Don't pretend that you don't understand what your father is saying." Kirsten had emptied her glass and exhausted her patience with the men at this table. She shot Sandy a disgusted look. "What your father is trying to say is that we want you to pick some place safer. Some place we won't have to worry about you when you're there."
"Safer or less brown?" Seth's question left Sandy and Kirsten speechless. Seth plowed ahead into the strained silence. "Chino's not Watts; but it's not the Bronx either is it, Dad? That kid, the one from the Manhattan prep school, the one who took the subway up to the Bronx every week to tutor you, what do you think his parents thought about that? Did they think your old neighborhood was too far away, wasn't safe enough, or maybe they thought it was too Jewish? He didn't find a better, safer, closer to home neighborhood to work in." Seth shook his head. "You've turned into a couple of hypocrites. The checks go out to the right causes and you belong to all the politically correct groups; but neither of you wants your kid going into a neighborhood where there are too many of 'their kind' around."
Kirsten replied, "Color has nothing to do with this, Seth. Your father and I are being realistic. We know a little more about the world outside Newport than you do. You don't have a clue how to act, what to say." She paused and smiled thinly. "Or, in your case, when to just keep your mouth shut."
"Seth, if you go to Chino, you won't know the rules or the signals. You could get into a lot of trouble very innocently. Don't roll your eyes at me. I work with kids from those neighborhoods. Some of them are every bit as bright as you are but life's dealt them a shitty hand. If they manage, by some miracle, to stay out of the adult legal system after they turn eighteen all they have to look forward to is a dead end job and a lifetime of missed opportunities. Others that I see are already lost causes just marking time in the juvenile system until they graduate to the big time. You're going to be clueless out there." Sandy could tell from Seth's expression that he hadn't heard anything that he'd said.
"Dad, if ten years at Harbor have taught me anything they have taught me how to tell the difference between people who are serious about wanting to hurt me and those who aren't. I know how to get out of the way of the first group and can deal with the latter."
As he finished, his eyes grew large and he brought a hand to his mouth. His parents wore expressions that were confused but not concerned. Thinking fast, Seth gambled that humor would deflect any suspicions his unthinking comment might have aroused in his parents. "Besides, my highly evolved spidey-sense never fails to warn when malefactors, intent on doing me harm, are near." Seth flashed them one of his dopey, lopsided grins. "So, you see, I'm covered. There's nothing to worry about."
"Can't you be serious at least 'til we finish this conversation, Seth?" Kirsten leaned forward in her chair and fixed her husband with a look that demanded he get back into the fight.
Caught between his wife and his son, Sandy looked like he wished he could be anywhere else, doing anything else, but having this conversation. "Our decision is for your own good. You'll understand our reasons when you have kids of your own. We want you to be safe. Take Chino…"
Seth interrupted. "But, Dad...!"
"Seth!" Kirsten said sharply.
"Take Chino off your list. It's not an option for you this year." Sandy's statement drew a frown from both his listeners.
"So you're ordering me to stay out of Chino." Seth, his arms crossed, looked thoughtful.
Sandy wouldn't meet his eyes; but Kirsten met and held them without flinching. "It's an order only if that's what it takes to keep you out of Chino."
"So, I guess borrowing the car on Wednesday night for the next couple of months is out?" Seth's tone was sarcastic. "The Internet is my next stop." He stood up and, leaving his dishes on the table, headed for the hall. At the doorway he paused and turned back to his parents. Sandy was staring intently at his plate while Kirsten looked wistfully at her empty glass. "You know, I told you the truth. Those selections really were only in alphabetical order; but thanks for helping me decide where I'm sending my application."
Seth left the room muttering to himself. His voice drifted down the hall to them. "I wonder if you can get to Chino by bus."
Kirsten picked up the corkscrew that was lying next to her plate and removed the old cork. She had pushed back her chair from the table and had started to rise when they heard Seth once again.
"How do you catch a bus?"
Kirsten's napkin hit the table and she skewered Sandy with an icy glare.
"It'll be an adventure!"