“Unfortunately, you and I might see it, but you can never convince someone that the person they’re dating is bad for them. Remember, I tried to get rid of you.”
He had.
“Fair enough. The real reason I’m calling is I’ve been working with some of my friends on their life goals. I think you can help me help them achieve their goals,” I said.
“How’s that?”
“You know Tami Glade?” I asked.
“Yes, she’s the smart girl on scholarship at Wesleyan.”
“That’s her. She wants to be a doctor. Apparently, Northwestern has a program geared for gifted high school students to expose them to what they could expect if they were to become a doctor. It’s for the summer. Last year she tried to talk me into sharing an apartment with her. Both our moms rejected the idea of letting us loose on Chicago on our own,” I said.
“Are you suggesting that she stay with us?” Jack asked.
“I figured you might have some room at the inn.”
They had a humongous house. I would bet they had bedrooms that had never even been used.
“I’d need to talk to Bev before I could agree, but I don’t see why not. She and Harper get along.”
“There’s more. I have two friends who want to learn to build homes. One wants to be a contractor and the other an architect. It would be the same sort of deal. They would need to stay with you, and I was hoping you could use them in some way that they could get valuable experience.”
“Are either of them troublemakers?” he asked.
“They’re my best friends. There is something, though, and I hate to bring it up, but I don’t want you to be pissed. One of the guys is black,” I said.
He laughed.
“Thanks for telling me, but we’d be fine with that. It’s funny; my dad’s generation would have had a problem. It’s like having to explain that one of your friends is gay. It’s one of those topics that isn’t politically correct to talk about, but some people would be offended.”
I didn’t think Jack or Bev would care; in fact, I really didn’t ever consider it. But if they were opening their home to my friends, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t an issue.
I heard Bev in the background. Jack ran my idea by her, and she laughed when she heard I’d asked if they would have a problem with a black kid living with them. I felt foolish for asking. Wolf told me once that he sometimes faced racism. I didn’t want to put him in a situation where he might have to face it every day for a summer. I’d rather feel stupid than hurt him like that.
They agreed to my plan but wanted to talk to everyone’s parents. I told Bev to call my mom, and she would coordinate everything.
Before going to bed, I told Mom and Dad my plans for my friends. I told Mom that Teddy Wesleyan had arranged the Northwestern thing last year for Tami. She said she would talk to him and see if they could do it again for this year. Mom agreed with Bev that their parents had to be on board before they were told, so I was instructed to keep my mouth shut. You would think I couldn’t be trusted.
◊◊◊ Wednesday April 20
Tonight, I found Tracy and Uncle John waiting for me. She stood up so I could give her a hug and kiss. We walked into the office, and I read Tracy’s goals while Uncle John explained what we were going to do.
Tracy’s Goals:
Have a Great Senior Year.
Travel
See David Play in the U-18 Baseball Tournament
Go to Dad’s Place in Chicago for a Couple of Weeks
Go to College and get a Degree in Sports Journalism or Public Relations.
Find a Boyfriend.
Tracy had missed a semester because of her depression. She would graduate after the fall semester of my senior year. She told me she wanted to go to college with Pam and me. Tracy planned to go to State for one semester and then transfer to wherever we would end up.
“I’ll miss my first semester of college because I have the
“Do you know where they plan to film them? I hope you don’t have to freeze your butt off in Canada again.”
“Saul, my agent, says it’ll be in New Zealand. That’s where they filmed the
“I would love to visit someday,” Tracy said.
In the back of my mind, a germ of an idea began to form.
When we were done, Tracy hung around after Uncle John left. He seemed to really enjoy helping my friends get a focus to their lives. He pointed out that it would give them a huge advantage because most teens had no idea what they wanted to do. Or, if they did, how to achieve their goals.
What I found interesting was that my friends’ goals seemed more specific, like ‘get a degree in xyz’ whereas mine were more general, like ‘help my friends.’ Uncle John told me that was because we’d spent a whole summer early on, developing my goals. And we’d also mapped out how I wanted to live my life. With my friends, he hadn’t spent as much time and tried to focus them on a more immediate time frame.
