The day the party to celebrate Junior's birth was held turned out to be a blistery fall day. Orange, red, and yellow leaves dropped from the trees to be carried by the wind. The rustle of dry leaves rubbing against other leaves provided a background noise easily recognizable as the sound of fall. People wore windbreakers, sweaters, or jackets trying to keep warm in the face of the chilly wind, but their efforts failed. It was too cool for a light jacket, too windy for a sweater, and not cold enough for a heavy jacket.
There were worse days to have an outdoor barbecue, but not many. At least it wasn't raining. The majority of people had retreated inside of Burl's house. It was very crowded in the house with over twenty people milling around in the kitchen and living room. In fact, it was standing room only.
Two hearty individuals, George and Dick, stood around the grill with Burl while he cooked some sausages. The little kettle grill showed its age. He figured that he would have to replace it next season and wondered if he could pick up a good deal on one now.
Burl was providing burgers, sausages, and wings. There was a lot of food inside the house since most of the neighbors had come over with side dishes knowing that he was providing the meat. Kat was inside helping manage the food.
Holding his hands over the grill to warm them, George said, "It sure was nice of you to do this for us."
"My pleasure. I just wish the weather was a little nicer," Burl said.
He felt embarrassed to have squeezed so many people into his small house. The morning had been spent moving furniture out of the public areas of the house so there would be room for everyone. It was still crowded. At least two or three women at a time were down at George's house visiting Maggie and uh-ing and ah-ing over the baby.
Dick, one of the retired men who lived down the street, said, "You can't control the weather."
"That's true," Burl said.
He lifted one of the sausages off the grill and put it on a plate. He cut the sausage into bite sized pieces. Dick stabbed each piece with a toothpick. He popped a piece of sausage into his mouth.
"Mmm, good," Dick mumbled around the piece of food.
"The fellow at the meat market down the street makes it himself," Burl said.
"It's good," George said after sampling a piece.
Burl took another piece of sausage off the grill and set it on the plate. Dick had the knife ready to cut it into slices. There was going to be a pretty good pile of sausage by the time Burl was done with the batch cooking on the grill.
"I keep telling him that he needs to make more and market it to one of those natural food stores, but he says that he just wants to keep his butcher shop," Burl said.
"I'm kind of surprised that he's managed to stay open. Supermarkets have pushed most of the specialty stores out of business," Dick said.
"That's true. I go there because I know he buys the best meat and he cuts it to order," Burl said. "You can't get that at the supermarket."
"Sure you can," Dick said.
"Right. They act like they are doing you a favor," Burl said dismissively. "You try asking a butcher at the supermarket to package meat in half pound packages some time."
"You might be right," Dick said.
"When I get my meat at the supermarket, I have to buy their big packages and repackage all of the meat. It's a real pain in the ass," Burl said.
George asked, "Do you buy all your meat from him?"
"No. I still buy most of my meat at the supermarket. It's that one stop shopping thing," Burl answered.
George said, "I guess we're all guilty of that."
After Burl put the last sausage on the plate, Dick went to work cutting it up. George grabbed a piece and popped it into his mouth. He was going to ask Maggie to go pick some up when she went shopping.
Burl started putting burgers out on the grill. "I keep trying to remember to swing by the meat shop, but I get caught up in other things and forget. I guess I'm in the habit of heading over to the supermarket."
"Strange to think of shopping as a habit," Dick said.
Burl said, "Maybe I ought to start swinging by the butcher shop before heading over to the supermarket."
"I don't do the shopping. Maggie does it all," George said. He picked up the plate with sausages and added, "I'll take these in the house."
"Great. Ask Kat if I need to put more wings in the oven," Burl said.
"Will do," George said.
Dick watched George go in the house. Turning back to Burl, Dick said, "Did you hear about someone sending Kat money?"
"She mentioned it to me," Burl said. "She was very happy about it."
Kat had been surprised one day to discover an envelope in the mail containing nothing except for two one hundred dollar bills. There wasn't a return address or a note explaining the money. It was quite a mystery.
"I wonder who would send her money like that," Dick said eyeing Burl.
"Probably one of the men who served with her husband," Burl answered. He pressed down on a couple of burgers with his spatula creating a flare-up when the grease hit the hot coals.
"I think it was a little closer to home than that," Dick said.
"That's an interesting idea," Burl said.
"You wouldn't happen to know anything about it?" Dick asked.
Burl said, "If I wanted to give her some money, I could just walk next door. There's no need to mail it."
"That's true," Dick said. "Unless you wanted to remain anonymous."
"There's no need to be anonymous. A lot of people in the neighborhood help her out. George has been taking care of her car. He only charges her parts," Burl said. "You've helped her with plumbing."
"Only the simple stuff," Dick said.
"Still, it helps," Burl said.
"I liked Jimmy. He was a good neighbor," Dick said. "It's a real shame patriotic folks are dying while people who hate the country stay home where it is safe. People like Jimmy are dying so those assholes can ruin the country."
"I never served," Burl said.
Dick looked at Burl and said, "Not having served in the military doesn't make you an asshole. The assholes are the ones who don't appreciate the sacrifice others make on their behalf."
"I could serve," Burl said.
He felt that he could go over and help protect the country. If he were to die in the process ... well ... no one would really miss him. He wouldn't be leaving a widow behind like Jimmy did.
Dick shook his head. He didn't know how to say it, but Burl would be the first guy killed in a battlefield.
"You aren't built for the military," Dick said, "Face it, you're a nice guy Burl. You aren't a fighter. It just ain't in you. Some kid over there will sucker you into a bad situation and you'll be dead."
"I don't know ... maybe you're right," Burl said.
George came out of the house laughing about something someone had said inside. He walked over to Burl. "Kat already put some wings in the oven."
"Great," Burl said.
George said, "I'm going to check on the little woman and Waldo."
"You do that," Burl said. He was pretty sure that Maggie heard George call Junior Waldo despite the fact that she was indoors and two houses down.
"Junior is going to grow up to be a good looking boy. He gets his looks from Maggie," George said jokingly.
"You're lucky," Dick said with equal humor in his voice. "All my boys ended up looking like me."
Not having anything to add to the conversation, Burl concentrated on cooking the burgers. He would love to have a kid or two. He felt there was no finer thing to aspire to than being a father.
George said, "I'll be back in a bit."
Burl flipped the burgers to cook the other side.
Watching George cut across the backyards to his home, Dick said, "He's taking to being a father like a duck to water."
"He's going to be a good father," Burl said.
Dick said, "I'm not surprised. His dad was a good father."
"His dad was always there for him," Burl said. "He'd have been a great grandfather."
George and Burl been in high school together, although they were a year different in age. George's dad had attended every football game and driven the boys home from practice. Burl had made the team, but never got much time on the field. He was big and could fill a spot on the offensive line in a pinch, but he wasn't aggressive enough to really do the kind of job one would expect of a first string player. George had been a tight-end despite the fact that he wasn't really big enough to take the punishment of getting hit by the bigger guys.
It was a shame that George's dad had been killed by a drunk driver two years earlier. It had really hit George hard. Burl had spent many an evening listening to George rant about drunk drivers. Although George talked about drinking, he hadn't taken a drink since the night his father died. He was the first to demand the car keys from anyone who had too much to drink.
"He'd just be a grandfather," Dick corrected. "When Junior has a kid of his own, he would have been a great grandfather."
"You know what I meant," Burl said.
"Just razzing ya'," Dick said.
"So when are you going to be a grandfather?" Burl asked.
"I don't know," Dick said in disgust.
His sons were married, but they didn't seem to be in a hurry to start a family. It seemed to him that too many people were waiting longer to get married and even longer than that to start having children. His kids were in their thirties and were talking like they were going to wait twenty years before starting a family.
Dick said, "I just hope that my daughters-in-law listen to their biological clock someday soon. They aren't going to be happy to discover they can't have children if they wait too much longer."
"I've noticed a lot of women in their late thirties pushing baby carriages in the mall," Burl said. "It seems to me like the more educated and wealthier a couple is, the longer they are waiting to have children. I don't know if that is a good thing or not. They can provide for them better, but I'm not sure they are able to relate to them as well."
"It would be more like grandparents raising a kid than a parent," Dick said. He sighed, "Maybe my generation rushed into it. Most of us were parents by the time we hit twenty-three. We couldn't afford to raise a family, but we did the best we could.
"I remember bringing home a couch my wife had bought one day before learning she was pregnant. I got home with the couch and she told me that we were expecting our first kid. She told me that after I had struggled to bring it into the house. I turned around and took the couch back because we couldn't afford it anymore. Even though we both agreed that it had to go back, my wife cried about the couch for years. I don't blame her.
"We ate the cheap hamburger until the kids were nearly out of school. You know – the garbage that is eighty percent lean and twenty percent fat. Cooking that stuff would make the whole house smell like grease. It formed a film on everything. We ate that lousy meat and stretched our money as much as we could. Tuna casserole – don't even use that word around me. I had so much of that crap that I get sick just smelling it.
"The kids may not have had the best stuff, but they never went without. The money I set aside for a boat went to braces. The money my wife set aside to redo the kitchen went to college tuition. I won't lie and tell you that we weren't disappointed, but taking care of your kids is a major responsibility.
"In a way, I think the boys are trying to avoid being responsible. They make good money, but they spend it almost as fast as they make it. They take expensive vacations, eat out all of the time, and buy every gadget that comes on the market. I want to tell them that its time for them to grow up, but I keep my mouth shut."
"Why?" Burl asked.
"They would just laugh at me," Dick said.
Burl frowned. "Why would they laugh?"
"I'm sure they think I'm just an old fashioned fuddy-duddy. My world view doesn't fit the modern world. To tell the truth, they might be right. There's a lot of things going on today that I don't like. I never had an elected government official tell me that I was too stupid to understand what they are doing," Dick said.
"You aren't alone in thinking that way," Burl said. "I walk around the mall and listen to folks talk. A lot people don't like what is going on today."
Dick said, "People like George are the future. He did something smart. I figured that he and Maggie would have a kid right after they got married. They waited a while and fixed up the house, saved some money, and grew up a little. He's raising the next generation and I think he'll do a better job than we did."
"Did you ever tell him that?" Burl asked.
"No. You don't tell people things like that," Dick said.
"Maybe you should. It helps to have people tell you what you're doing right," Burl said. "I wish people would tell me what I'm doing right. You screw up and everyone is there telling you what you did wrong. I've always known when I've screwed up right after I did it."
"You might be right," Dick said.
"If George's dad were alive, he would be over here giving George advice. I think having someone who has been in trenches giving him advice is something that George really misses," Burl said.
"I'll think about it," Dick said.
Burl said, "Your sons might not be so happy if you were to take George under your wing."
"That's true," Dick said thoughtfully.
"I bet in about a month, George and Maggie will be ready to get out of the house for an evening. I'm sure your wife would make a great babysitter. I'm positive your sons will be relieved to learn that she's getting her 'grandchild' experience without their help," Burl said.
"I bet," Dick said dryly.
His sons would really be happy to hear that – not. As competitive as they were, they'd end up having a race to produce the first grandson. He grinned when he realized what Burl actually meant.
Dick said, "Yes, I bet they'd love to hear that."
"I better get the burgers off the grill before they burn," Burl said.
"You're good man, Burl," Dick said while holding up the plate.
It didn't take Burl a minute to pile the burgers on the plate. He figured between the sausages, burgers, and wings that there was enough meat to satisfy the crowd. If not, he could come back out and cook another couple links of sausage.
"Let's get them in the house before they get cold," Burl said.
On entering the house, he was immediately faced with eight people crowded together in his kitchen. It was never meant to handle that many people. He knew that he took up the space of two people. He felt like a bear in a China shop. There was only one way to make a little more room.
Holding up the plate of burgers, he called across the kitchen, "Hey Kat! Could you fix a plate for Maggie? I'll take it over there."
"Sure," Kat said from the other side of the kitchen.
She put together a plate with a burger, a couple of slices of sausage, a couple wings, cole slaw, potato salad, and green bean salad. It was far more than Maggie would eat, but she figured that Maggie would appreciate being able to pick and choose.
She passed the plate over to Dick's wife who then passed it to Burl with a smile. He slipped out the back door and headed over to George's house.
"He's always thinking of everyone else," Dick said after the door shut behind Burl.
"He's a nice guy," Kat said.
Dick asked, "Why aren't you trying to lasso him?"
"Burl? He's a nice guy and all that, but he's like a brother to me. It would feel real icky to date him," Kat said.
This wasn't the first time someone had asked her about Burl. She liked him, but not that way. Like everyone else, she thought it would be great if he found a girlfriend. She knew how other women viewed him and felt it would be a long time before he found a woman who would look past his appearance.
Dick said, "I bet he's heard that his whole life."
"He's that kind of guy. Real nice, but not ... you know. He's not like Jimmy was," Kat said.
"I know," Dick said. "It's a shame. He'd make some woman very happy."
"I"m sure he would, but the woman won't be me," Kat said apologetically.
Thirty minutes later, George was returning to the party. It seemed to him that it was getting colder than before. It was turning into a really ugly day. He found Burl standing out in the backyard warming his hands over the kettle grill. There wasn't any meat on the grill.
Curious, George asked, "What are you doing out here?"
"Its kind of crowded inside. I thought I'd get some fresh air and let people move around a bit," Burl said.
George snorted. "Oh man. Get inside and mingle. If anyone doesn't like the crowd, they can go home."
"They're my guests," Burl said.
"So go in and be a host," George said.