Junior Year Box Set

I fetched Kyle and Mac from their car seats, and they each grabbed one of my legs and peeked out at Roc.

“This is Roc,” I said to introduce them. “We call him that because he has rocks in his head. Roc, this is Kyle and Mac.”

“Funny,” Roc said to me then he squatted down. “You want to see some horses?”

They both nodded.

“Okay, you have to take my hand,” Roc said, and I was surprised when they both reached for him.

They held his hands as the three of them walked to the barn where I found Zoe  saddling the horses. Roc talked quietly with my niece and nephew as he held them up so they could pet the horses. Meanwhile, I helped Zoe get everything ready for our ride.

“I thought we could take them down to the river,” Zoe said.

I was about to become the best uncle ever. Mac loved her ride. I don’t know what it is about girls and horses, but she never wanted it to end. Kyle had fun, but he seemed to have just as much fun with the kittens Roc showed him in the barn.

We had a great morning. Kyle and Mac wanted to stop at McDonald’s and get Happy Meals for lunch. When we arrived home, Duke met me at the back door. I could tell he wasn’t happy. When I entered the kitchen, my mom was down on the floor with Nate and rolling one of Duke’s tennis balls to him. Nate thought this was the height of hilarity. Duke nudged me to tell me to get his ball back.

“Sorry, Buddy. Looks like Nate has stolen your ball.”

“I had to swat his butt because he kept stealing the ball from Nate,” Mom explained.

“It is his ball,” I said with a smile. “I got them Happy Meals.”

“Good. We can feed them and then put them down for naps. I keep forgetting how much work taking care of a little one is.”

Her words made me wonder for about the hundredth time if it was fair to let Mom and Dad help raise my child. I then saw how her face seemed to radiate love for little Nate, and all my doubts vanished. They wouldn’t have offered if they didn’t want to help me. It was just one more thing that reminded me of how much I loved my parents.

◊◊◊

After the kids were put down for their naps, I stepped into the office to call Uncle John. I spent a half hour to catch him up on everything and to tell him about the game. He’d watched it on TV and said that the men at the diner could talk about nothing else. They all wanted to know when I would be there so they could congratulate me on the game—and pick my brain apart.

I then told him about Jan. He knew about what she’d done in middle school. It was one of the excuses I’d made for my behavior that he soon dissuaded me from. That was when he’d taught me that I was solely responsible for my actions, regardless of what others encouraged me to do. Besides being a farmer, Uncle John had his degree in child psychology and had even practiced for a time.

I was shocked when he didn’t think the situation was funny. Usually, he would make some grand statement about how what I experienced was part of growing up.

“Without spending some time with her, I can’t be certain, but she seems to be a young woman in crisis. She lacks meaningful limits, and she appears to lack a meaningful appreciation of the consequences of her actions. To me, this means she has never had to set limits or boundaries herself. I would surmise someone else used to set them for her, but that’s no longer the case. Do you know if her parents divorced?” Uncle John asked.

“In fact, that’s one of the strange things: I’ve never met them,” I said.

For the average person that might not be strange, but when you were from a small town, everyone knew everyone. While we did have new professors that taught at State, when they and their families moved in, if they became involved with the community, we’d meet them. As well, I had followed my dad’s lead and made it a point to introduce myself to most everyone I met. So, for me, it was strange that I hadn’t met Jan’s parents. She had lived here all her life.

“Okay,” Uncle John said and seemed to consider what to say next. “People learn different strategies to get folks to like them or to fit in. Once they learn these strategies, you’ll see them use them again and again. Let me give you some examples. Your friend Wolf uses humor; he’s the class clown. Tami’s the fixer. You’re the people-pleaser. Jan has learned to use sex to get what she wants and needs from others. Somewhere she had to learn this approach. For someone as young as she is, I would suspect some form of sexual abuse has occurred. Typically, someone who uses their body to make friends also has low-self-esteem issues.”

“What do you think set her off when I said that if she were with me, she wouldn’t be with anyone else? You know how I am; you’re the same way. We don’t share with others when it comes to our women. Her reaction seemed strange to me,” I said.