The VFW hall was packed with members and guests for the annual Christmas party. The Frickes and their friends were sitting at three tables pushed together just off the edge of the dance floor. Sitting at the tables were the usual cast of characters. Rita and Harold were there of course, and so was their daughter Caroline. Ben and Cricket Crawford were sitting across from Ramon and Theresa Salazar. Tommy sat at the end of the table with new VFW member Margie Wilcox. Margie had served a six month tour on a hospital ship off the coast of Vietnam, so she was qualified for membership. Betty Lou sat on the other side of Tommy. She was there that night as his guest.
As soon as the first slow dance started, Tommy walked up to Rita and asked her for the dance. It was an ingrained tradition now for Tommy to do that. Caroline watched Tommy speculatively as he presented himself to her mother. She had to give him credit for good manners, and the almost reverent manner in which he treated her mother earned him some bonus points.
Caroline was surprised at how smooth and effortlessly Tommy danced. He courteously asked each of the women at the table to dance, and seemed to pick the particular song each enjoyed dancing to. After a turn with each of the wives at the table, Tommy asked Caroline to dance a waltz with him. As he lightly whisked her around the room, she admired how gracefully he moved. Big Ben Crawford was the only man present who was bigger than Tommy, yet for his size, Tommy was noticeably agile. He was no Rudolf Nureyev, (who she saw perform in Geneva with the Dutch National Ballet earlier that year) but he was fun to dance with.
This was Tommy's fifth or sixth VFW dance, and he was a comfortably favorite partner to a bunch of women. Caroline didn't know that, though, so along about ten-thirty, when Tommy and her mother jumped up and started jitter-bugging as if they were high schoolers in the early fifties, Caroline almost fell off her chair. This time it was her mother who amazed her as she shook and shimmied as Tommy spun her around the floor. Rita Maude Fricke, the forty-six year old mother of three grown children, was as swivel-hipped as Tina Turner. Caroline looked over at her father goggle-eyed. Harold just smiled smugly and leaned across the table.
"Your Mama is the best dancer I ever saw, and my rhythm is so bad, I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. When she dances with Tommy, I swear she is eighteen all over again. Look how happy she is out there and tell me Tommy being in our lives is a bad thing."
Caroline nodded as she watched them dance, her father had a point.
Of course, Harold did not tell her that later tonight, her mother would bring some of those same moves to the bedroom. Harold had swigged down half a bottle of Geritol earlier that day, just so he could keep up with her even a little bit.
There was mistletoe hung in the archway between the dance floor and the game room. The archway was located near the left hand front corner of the dance floor. All evening long, some of the women would maneuver Tommy under the mistletoe and kiss him just to make him blush. Caroline even tried the mistletoe trick, but at the last second, Tommy turned his head so her kiss landed on his cheek. When he did that, she jerked her head back and gave him an exasperated look.
"Why did you turn your head like that?" she asked.
He looked at her as if she was crazy.
"I'm not kissing you on the lips without your parents' permission. That would be disrespectful and make me some sort of creep. Besides, I know you don't like me, on account of I aint hoity-toity enough."
Caroline's anger flared red hot when he said that, and before she could stop herself, she snapped back at him.
"I don't dislike you because you aren't 'hoity-toity' enough. I dislike you because you are an immature asshole with no prospects. I was being nice to you because my parents like you, for some unknown reason, and because I felt sorry for you, the same as everyone else," she said bitterly.
Tommy winced a couple of times as she told him off, then shook his head and offered her his arm.
"Let me walk you back to the table, and I'll make sure you don't have to worry about me and my poor prospects ever again."
Rita noticed Tommy and Caroline walking back towards the table before the song had ended, and she couldn't help notice the expressions on their faces. Caroline's jaw was set and her eyes squinted in anger, while Tommy was trying unsuccessfully to hide his hurt feelings. As soon as they were seated, Rita stood up and motioned Caroline to follow her to the ladies room. Caroline grabbed her purse and trudged after her mother, steeling herself for the confrontation that was sure to follow.
Once in the bathroom, Rita leaned against the counter and asked, "What's going on with you two, Caroline?"
Caroline took a breath and gave her mother a fairly accurate version of the conversation she had with Tommy under the mistletoe, then told her why she reacted the way she did.
"I'm twenty-two years old, mother, and I don't need parental permission to kiss someone. Plus, he had no right to call me a snob, just because I am not one of his concubines. I know you and Daddy think the world of him, but he is never going to be any more than he is right now, a hayseed Romeo with a menial job."
Caroline braced her self for an explosion, but incredibly, her mother just looked at her sadly and shook her head.
"I can't believe a child of mine could purposely say something that hurtful. And I can't believe a woman as smart as you could misjudge someone so badly. As far as Tommy's prospects are concerned, ask your father where the money came from to expand our business."
As soon as Rita said that, she pushed away from the sink and walked out of the bathroom without saying another word.
Tommy did not let Caroline's spiteful words ruin the evening for his friends. He avoided Caroline, but was his normal self for everyone else. He and Betty Lou begged out of further partying at eleven, because the next day was the Sunday before Christmas, and they both had to be at church early to prepare for the annual Christmas Pageant. Tommy was elated that he was playing one of the three wise men.
Betty Lou leaned heavily on his arm as they walked to his truck; she was unsteady on her feet because of the two Long Island Iced Teas she'd quaffed. Betty Lou was buzzed for the first time in her thirty-three years. She was flirty and giggly as Tommy helped her into the truck. As soon as Tommy slid into the driver's seat, Betty Lou snuggled up next to him, put her hand on his thigh and her head on his shoulder. Ten minutes later, Tommy pulled into her driveway and switched off his truck. Betty Lou was still leaning against his shoulder, because she was fast asleep.
Tommy managed to wake her up and help her down from the cab. Once on the ground, she held his hand and wobbled into the house. Regina and Melody were sitting in the living room, huddled under a blanket with a pan of Jiffy-Pop, when Tommy helped Betty Lou through the front door. The young women were watching a movie on the Dallas UHF channel. The movie was a Beau Baumgartner tour de force, titled 'Marauding Martian Monsters'. In the movie, Conchita Delgado played a scantily clad astronaut who crash lands on Mars and is pursued by green versions of Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein and the Mummy.
Regina took one look at Betty Lou and grinned mischievously.
"Looks like someone had a good time," Regina quipped.
"I sure did," Betty Lou said with a giggle.
When Tommy shot her a helpless look, Regina grabbed Melody's arm and stood up.
"Me and Mel will tuck you in bed and you can tell us all about it," Regina said, giving Tommy a wink.
Betty Lou pouted and clung to Tommy even tighter.
"I want Tommy to tuck me in," she said sultrily. "He does that soooo good."
Tommy shot Regina an alarmed look and blushed furiously. Regina grabbed one of Betty Lou's arms and Melody took the other.
"Maybe next time, Mom. Tonight you both need to get to bed, we have the pageant tomorrow, and it's late."
Tommy had just stepped out of his jockeys when he heard someone on the stairs; he spun around, clad in nothing except his jockstrap. Regina and Melody were standing at the bottom of the stairs, smiling at him. Reflexively, he dropped one hand down to cover his crotch and grabbed his robe with the other.
"No need to cover up, Tommy. We've seen it all before," Melody said huskily.
Tommy shrugged into his robe anyway, and belted it securely.
"I thought we all had to go to bed early, on account of the pageant tomorrow," Tommy said.
Regina gave him a smile and did a back flop onto his bed.
"I said that so mom wouldn't do anything to embarrass herself. We don't have to be at the church until nine, and it's only eleven-thirty now. Besides, we aren't going to molest you ... much. We actually want to talk to you about something."
While Regina was talking, Melody sat down on the bed, grabbed Tommy by the arm, and pulled him down to join her. Regina sat up and after a nod from Melody, started talking again.
"I'll be eighteen next month, Tommy, and in August I'm starting college. The same is true for Melody, except her birthday isn't until March. We have both decided that we are not going to start college as inexperienced virgins. We are going to start the pill right after our birthdays, so sometime between when we go on the pill and us leaving for school, you need to make us women."
Tommy's facial expression did not change as he nodded. Tommy had fooled around with both girls for months but never had intercourse with them. The request did not seem odd to Tommy at all, considering he had already performed the same service for Ruthie Silverman.
"Sure Reggie, I'll help you out. After all, what are friends for?"
Both girls squealed in delight and jumped on Tommy to shower him with kisses. Melody broke free of the tangle, tugged her sleep shirt over her head, and tossed it off the bed.
"Make me cum Tommy," Melody yipped. "I'm all hot and bothered from watching your girlfriend strut around half naked on TV."
The church's pageant went off without a hitch and Tommy sailed into the last few days before Christmas as excited as a six-year-old.
On Monday afternoon, Tommy took care of his last three presents, by meeting with banker Otto Mills, down at the Bluebonnet Diner. Mister Mills met Tommy there to keep their business dealings a secret from Betty Lou.
Christmas morning found Tommy up and dressed by six in the morning. With everyone else in the house sleeping, Tommy snuck into the family room and put his boxed presents under the tree. When his neatly wrapped (thanks to Melody Graham) presents were in the pile with all the others, he put on a pot of coffee, grabbed up another stack of presents, and took Rex for a walk around the neighborhood. During the walk, Tommy stopped a couple of times to leave presents at the front door of several houses. The presents for the neighbors weren't all that much: a couple of Zebco fishing outfits for the Dawson children, an oversized maple rolling pin for the Widow Guthrie and a big bag of Florida oranges for the elderly Millers. They were gifts from Tommy's heart, though, and it made him happy to be able to give everyone something.
Tommy was sipping coffee and watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' on television, when Bucky stumbled into the room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He took one look at the presents, then hustled upstairs to roust his sister and mother. Ten minutes later, the women, each with a mug of coffee, joined Tommy and Bucky, and the fun began. Bucky dove under the tree and started to hand everyone presents. The Grimes' tradition was that each person be handed one present, then everyone unwraps them at the same time. Tommy was very happy with the belt and buckle from Regina, the wallet from Bucky, and the low crowned black Stetson from Betty Lou. In turn, the Grimes family all seemed to like the practical gifts he gave them.
After all the gifts were opened and oh'd and ah'd over, Tommy sprang his real gifts on them. He reached under the chair cushion where he sat, and took out three business-sized envelopes, embossed in the upper left hand corner with the Brantley Savings and Loan's name and address. He handed the envelopes to the person whose name was typed on the front. Before anyone opened theirs, Tommy cleared his throat and took Betty Lou's hand in his.
"Before you open these, you need to know that I consider the three of you my family. These gifts reflect that. Also, you can do anything with these that you want, except give them back to me, because I am well and truly happy to be rid of the part of my life they represent."
Regina and Bucky gave him confused looks as they tore open the envelopes. Betty Lou just held hers, looking at him thoughtfully. Regina pulled the single sheet of paper out of her envelope, read it and gasped. She waved the paper weakly towards her mother.
"It's a letter from your bank, saying I have twelve thousand dollars in a college trust fund," she sputtered.
By then, Bucky had his open as well.
"I have the same thing for eight thousand. There is also a note saying that by the time I'm eighteen, it will be the same as Gina's."
Betty Lou had been expecting something like that from Tommy, based on their earlier conversation. She didn't especially agree with what he'd done, but she couldn't do much about it.
She looked at Tommy, and arched her eye brows. Tommy shrugged and held up his hands, as if to ward of a blow.
"Both of the accounts are in your name as well. You have to countersign any withdrawal from them. The money can only be spent on education, until they reach the age of twenty-five or graduate from college. There is a copy of each trust document in your envelope, along with a little surprise for you," he explained.
Betty Lou nodded her head and opened her envelope. True to his word, there was a letter from Mister Mills explaining the educational trusts. She gave them a cursory glance then flipped the pages to the last document. As she read, her eyes kept opening wider. The last document was a lien release, notifying her that her mortgage was paid in full as of twenty-three December.
She was speechless for a minute, then blurted out, "What did you do?"
Tommy smiled and pointed towards Rex, who was snoozing at Betty Lou's feet.
"I paid Rex's rent for the rest of his life," Tommy answered.
In spite of herself, Betty Lou smiled at the joke. According to her last statement, she had owed over seven thousand dollars on the house. That money, coupled with the trust, meant that Tommy had spent over twenty-five thousand dollars on their Christmas.
"We'll talk about this later," she said.
After a late breakfast, Tommy loaded up the rest of his gifts and made the rounds delivering them. It took him most of the afternoon to visit everyone. Amazingly, no one was surprised to see him, and there were presents waiting for him every where he visited. That made Tommy as happy as he had ever been in his life.
After the excitement of Christmas, Tommy was happy to get back to his job on Friday, the day after the holiday. Regardless of the occasion, the farmers and ranchers of McCulloch County needed feed and seed. Being busy was how Tommy liked it.
That Friday evening, Tommy had his second date with Becky. Becky had invited Tommy to have dinner at her house, so Tommy cleaned himself up and trundled across town. He was nervous about sitting down for a meal with Becky's parents; it would be another first for him.
Mister and Missus Dierdorf were at least ten years older than the Frickes. Becky was their youngest child by seven years, and the only one still at home. One of their sons was a cargo plane pilot in the Air Force, the other drove a truck for United Parcel Service up in Dallas. Becky also had a much older sister who lived with her husband and six children out in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mister Dierdorf was an auctioneer for the Texas Cattleman's Association. The Dierdorf were nice people and treated Tommy very well. They were thrilled that Becky had met a man in whom she seemed interested. Tommy was, in fact, the first male she'd ever introduced them too.
After dinner, Becky told her parents not to wait up for her, and hustled Tommy out the door. When Tommy asked where she wanted to go, Becky gave him a shy smile.
"I have an idea for later, but right now, I want to go shoot pool at Dukes," she said mysteriously.
They shot pool and danced to the jukebox for an hour and a half and left Dukes about nine-thirty. As soon as they were in his truck, Becky gave Tommy a key.
"Room eighteen at the Cardinal," she said huskily.
Becky was squirming in her seat as Tommy shot out of the parking lot, headed for the Highway 931 South Bypass. The only reason for the trip to Dukes was so Becky would not appear as eager as she really was. She had been wet with anticipation since noon, when she rented the room and secreted her overnight bag in it. In all her times at the Cardinal Motor Inn, this was the first that was totally her idea. Tonight Becky Dierdorf was going to give her love to a man who returned it, instead of trading it for the companionship of men who cared for nothing except their own satisfaction.
Once in the room, Becky ducked into the bath and put on the long black night gown she'd been saving for just such an occasion. The gown had its desired effect, as Tommy whistled when she walked out of the small bath. Tommy wasn't just whistling at the gown though, because Becky had foresworn her glasses, and had gelled her hair into a manageable set of curls. She was even prettier to him than usual. Becky could barely see him without her glasses, but his whistle told her all she needed to know.
That night, Becky Dierdorf discovered her true sexuality, because Tommy took the time to help her find it. Becky was extremely relieved and happy that her body responded as a woman's should, when a man who wanted to please her did his thing. For his part, Tommy finally had the opportunity to play connect the dots with his tongue. Ironically, his lingual explorations led to one of the few places she was freckleless. Not that anyone minded, though, because by then, Tommy had discovered the sweetest tasting woman he'd ever sampled, and Becky discovered that when it came to lingual love, Tommy was way past her ability to tutor.
After getting her off twice with his tongue, Tommy grabbed a Trojan and started to rip open the pack. Becky grabbed his hand and took the condom from it.
"I'm on the pill, Tommy, you don't need that," she said.
Tommy even found a way for her to orgasm from intercourse, when he pulled her hand down between them and instructed her to play with her clit. That worked, but it was hard to maintain their rhythm, so Tommy pulled out and flipped her over. Margie Wilcox had taught him this position, and she seemed to like it. In a flash, Tommy was reseated and sawing away. Becky had freer access to her clit like this, and he was hitting a spot inside her that was driving her crazy. There was only one more thing she needed, and she trusted Tommy enough to ask for it.
"Spank me Tommy," she moaned.
Tommy was surprised by her request, but like Margie had told him, 'different strokes for different folks'. He raised his right hand and brought it down crisply on her large, smooth, freckled butt. The smack reverberated in the room, sounding much louder than it was. Becky yipped and her ass went into overdrive.
"More, Baby, I'm almost there," she begged.
The lazy week between Christmas and New Years passed by in a pleasant rush for Tommy, as he had a date or rendezvous every night. The year drew to a close for Tommy and many of his friends, with the annual VFW New Year's Eve party. That night, the Frickes' table of friends had grown to six couples. Tommy was there with Connie Delgado, and Margie was escorted by Cyrus Wagner, the County Sheriff. Caroline Fricke was there, as was Ben and Cricket Crawford's son, Brian, a midshipman at the Naval Academy. The two were there that night as friends, it was not a date.
The hall was pretty well packed that night, as over two hundred members and their guests were there. Post 9802 was one of the VFW's most successful at drawing in young veterans of the Vietnam conflict, so the post had a nice mix of older and younger vets represented at the party. Besides Tommy, there were four other men under the age of thirty present that night who had served in Southeast Asia. One of those men was a troubled ex-marine tunnel rat named Hershel Tompkins.
Tompkins had been in and out of the big VA hospital in Dallas three or four times, because he was having trouble readjusting to civilian life. The staff at the over-crowded VA facility had diagnosed him as suffering from schizophrenia with paranoid delusions. The paranoia seemed to respond to prescription antidepressants, so they pronounced him cured and sent him on his way. Unfortunately, Hershel was not that conscientious about taking his medicine. Not to mention that when Tompkins consumed alcohol, medicated or not, his paranoia worsened. Needless to say, Hershel Tompkins was drinking heavily to ring in the New Year.
Everyone was having a great time, especially Tommy and Connie. Conchita Delgado could not believe her Tommy could dance as well as he did. When she found out, she dragged him out on the floor and kept him there. Conchita loved to dance, and had even taken lessons while in Hollywood. She'd often dreamed of being the next Ginger Rogers. Unfortunately, the closest she came to that was when she convinced Beau to produce a musical for her to star in. The movie, Frankenstein Goes to the Prom, was lambasted by the critics and was a dismal failure at the box office. No matter how she cajoled, Beau wouldn't do another.
All evening long, Caroline Fricke watched Tommy and his Hollywood hussy. Conchita Delgado was sticking to Tommy as if he were covered in flypaper, and shamelessly kissing on him. Caroline was alternately filled with contempt and consumed with jealous envy. To show Tommy she could have just as good a time, she threw herself at Brian Crawford.
The fun times continued as midnight rolled around right up through the count down to midnight. Kisses were exchanged by everyone, and Tommy, in the spirit of the occasion, even kissed Caroline on the lips. Harold and Ramon Salazar were busy pouring champagne for the traditional toast, when some drunken idiot decided to throw a string of Black Cat mini-firecrackers out onto the dance floor.
When the firecrackers started exploding, Hershel Tompkins flashed back to Vietnam, and jerked a small 25 caliber, seven shot, Colt semi-automatic pistol out of his boot. He was looking around wildly when he spotted a Vietnamese mamasan pulling the pin on a grenade. He swung his body around and engaged the target.
The target he was about to engage was really Caroline Frick, who was pulling the tab on a popper type noise-maker. A couple of people noticed Hershel drawing the pistol, and a woman screamed. Tommy, who had not had even one beer all evening, looked up and spotted the man right away. When he saw the direction the man was swinging the weapon, he yelled, "GET Down!" and dove across the table.
Tommy dived a split second before Hershel fired. As a consequence, the bullet that was aimed at Caroline, hit Tommy instead. In one of those great cosmic coincidences, the small lead and copper projectile impacted Tommy in the exact same spot as the shrapnel from Vietnam. This time though, the bullet bounced off his head. It bounced, because the hole in Tommy's temple had been repaired by using a two inch square piece of Air Force surplus titanium, a left over scrap from building an SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. The bullet did not penetrate Tommy's skull, but the impact rattled his damaged brain enough to cause a seizure. Tommy fell to the floor, flopping around like a boated marlin.
Some brave soul snatched the gun out of Tompkins' hand before he could fire another shot, and three other vets jumped in to help subdue him. Margaret Wilcox rushed to tend to Tommy, and Sheriff Wagner took charge of Hershel Tompkins. Both of them had their hands full as Tommy convulsed on the floor and Ben Crawford was about to rip Tompkins limb from limb.
Tommy woke up in the hospital, disoriented and dazed. He tried to raise his head to look around, but he could not move. When he tried to lift his arm, he had the same result. He licked his lips and tried out his voice.
"Hello?" he called out weakly.
He was relieved that he could at least speak. A figure moved into his peripheral vision, and his eyes focused on the beatifically smiling face of Rita Fricke. Of all the people in the world he could have seen right then, she was the absolute best. Rita stood next to the bed and put her hand on his cheek.
"How do you feel, Honey?" she asked.
"I think I'm paralyzed, Mama," he replied dejectedly.
Rita's kind smile turned to a happy one as she pressed the nurses call button.
"No you aren't," she said cheerfully. "You're just restrained to the bed in case you have another seizure."