After breakfast was over, Lori Beth and I broke away from the gang and the contest winners. I could hear my kid sister Joanie giggling at Jenny as Lori Beth and I left. Lori Beth and I decided to forget about what that girl had done to our contest. Jenny had told us the girl had cheated herself through to get plane tickets to meet us with her mother's credit card.
"Like Fonzie says, that ain't cool," I said, doing my impersonation of the Fonz.
Lori Beth broke into giggles as I unlocked the car.
"You better not let Fonzie hear that," we heard Potsie say behind us with Ralph giggling a bit.
"He's right, Rich. Fonzie probably won't like you impersonating him," Ralph said, agreeing with Potsie.
"You think any of our contest winners will let us take them on a date? I think I like the pretty girl over there," Potsie said, pointing.
"Who?" Ralph asked.
"You mean the one who's Japanese–American?" I asked.
"Yeah. She's pretty, don't you think, Rich?" Potsie asked me.
"Yeah, she is, but I can't date any of these girls, guys. I'm married, remember?" I reminded them.
Ralph, Potsie, Lori Beth and I said good–bye for now and would see each other later that day. Lori Beth and I got into the car and drove away. While driving, I wondered if any of the contest winners liked writing like I do. I used to be a journalist with my own column, but I got fired and now have been living on welfare for sometime now. It's tough, too.
Lori Beth and I made it back to the house and found the house a mess. Our kids were left home alone while Lori Beth and I were out to breakfast with the gang, Mom, Dad, Al, and the contest winners. It turned out the contest winners were a group of girls and a guy. I'm sure Ralph and Potsie know about that one girl who has one month left to live.
I called Richie Jr. and Sarah to the living room and they came right away.
"I want you two to clean up this mess right now," I told the kids.
"You two should have done that before we came home."
Richie Jr. and Sarah didn't say a word so all they did was pick up all the toys and games that were scattered around the living room floor.
"Thank you," I said as the floor began to sparkle.
The kids didn't answer. They both went back to their bedrooms and shut the doors. I was surprised to see this. Since when did my son not argue anymore? If I knew better, he argued every chance he could get. That didn't surprise me but I was happy not to raise my voice for once.