“The Beat Goes On” – Sonny & Cher
Once inside the house, Mike, Ted, Cliff and Rick walked through to the front porch where they sat down to watch the action. Cindy was already there, waiting on them. She had rescued Carlos from the basement and dressed him in his little red halter and leash so she could take him outside with her. She was sitting in a chair next to Don, Ira, Stan and Fred who were sharing three large Pisanello pizzas and a case of cold beer.
Ted, Mike and Cliff headed straight for the pizza and beer while Rick paused to greet Cindy with an affectionate kiss before he, too, grabbed a large piece of pepperoni pizza.
“Hi,” Cindy said, giving him a curious look. “Where’ve you been?”
“Cliff took us to a titty club on Hilltop Drive,” Mike joked. “Wait till you see the pictures.”
“What?” Cindy’s blue eyes widened.
“I’ll explain later, right now we’re in the middle of a domestic firestorm,” Rick said. “All we need is . . .” As if on cue, a caravan of personnel carriers and jeeps rumbled down Main Street from the west heading toward the campus. About 30 vehicles, combined with three more choppers took a few minutes to pass by the house. “I guess that completes the set.”
The door to the front porch opened and Mom walked out. “You boys okay?”
“We’re fine, but Jeff’s not so good. He got arrested Friday night,” Mike explained.
“Is he in the City of Kent jail?”
“Yeah, we went for a few drinks, but it started getting crazy. We were trying to leave, but his heart wouldn’t let us run. The police arrested him for resisting arrest. Can you help him?”
“Who else was there?” she asked.
Rick stepped forward. “I was.”
“Mike and Rick, come with me, so I can call the Mayor.” The three of them walked back into the house and went to Mom’s apartment off the kitchen.
“Here,” Mom said pulling two chairs out so they both could sit down without sitting on her bed. She pulled her black spiral phone book off the shelf above her desk and thumbed through it until she found the mayor’s number. She dialed the phone. “I’ll handle this unless he has questions, okay?”
“Silvia? This is Mabel Brown. I’m sorry to bother you so late, but I need to speak to your husband . . . I’m doing fine, thanks. I bet you’re having long days . . . yes, I know. I can’t believe this is any of our kids either. I see a lot of out-of-state plates from Illinois, too, and we never have students from that state for whatever reason . . . it was nice talking to you, too. We’ll have to get together when this is over . . . uh huh, bye.” To Rick and Mike she said, “She’s getting him now. They have a big house over on ...” She turned her attention back to the phone, “Hello, Mayor, Mabel Brown . . . yes, I’m fine . . . I was just telling Silvia that we should get together when this is all over . . . I agree . . . I’m sorry to bother you, but I do have a problem you can help me with. One of my boys, his name is Jeff Tallmadge, was arrested Friday night downtown. I’m told they arrested him for resisting arrest because he wasn’t running fast enough . . . that’s right, and I believe the two boys that were with him. Well, Mayor, he has a heart defect, and he can’t run at all. Can you do me a big favor and release him without any bail or seeing the judge tomorrow? This was all a misunderstanding and shouldn’t be on his record . . . Oh, that would be wonderful, how thoughtful. I’ll call Silvia next week . . . thank you . . . goodbye.”
She set the receiver down. “He’s a wonderful man.”
“Thoughtful? What was?” Mike asked.
“He’s going to have the police drop him off tonight since no one can be on the streets,” she said.
“That was very thoughtful,” Rick agreed.
“Thanks Mom. We felt awful about this.”
“That’s what I’m here for. But next time, and there had better not be a next time, call me at my son’s. The phone number is right here in my book under Luke Brown.” She opened her spiral notebook and showed them the number. They thanked her again and left.
“I hope they left us some pizza.” Mike picked up the pace.
As soon as they opened the front door, Rick announced, “Hey, Jeff’s free! You probably should save him some pizza.”
“Who the hell is out driving now?” Don asked as a car skidded around and raced up the drive.
“Sam?” Ted blurted out.
The front door slammed and out walked Susie and Sam. “You guys okay?”
“We just got back from the Hill. You?” Ted asked.
“Cabin fever. She didn’t want to go out all day.” Sam recapped their day.
“So you waited till curfew to take off? That isn’t Colonel Klink out there, Hogan,” Don joked.
“Yeah?”
“He’s right, Sam. The tear gas was flying off the choppers tonight because some kids sat down in the intersection of Lincoln and Main and didn’t run home fast enough. And their guns are loaded.” Cliff advised.
“No shit? Too bad Larry’s off playing ball. He’d love this.” Sam shook his head. Where the hell did you hear about the guns being loaded and all?”
“I used my press pass last night and went up to the Hill and walked among the soldiers. Some of them are younger than I am.”
“It’s going to be an interesting day tomorrow. I heard they have a plan to shut the university down on a minute’s notice if they have to until those protesters leave.”
A small convoy of four Jeeps, loaded with soldiers with rifles and fixed bayonets drove past, heading west. They slowed way down as they passed the house. Within less than a minute, they had returned to the house and focused several bright searchlights on the porch. The crackle of the radio could be heard from the radios in each Jeep. They didn’t speak directly to the people on the porch, but eventually, they snapped off the lights and sped away. A few minutes later a large chopper came over the house from the north side and illuminated the front yard. It maneuvered to hover over the road and then the light bathed the front porch and all its occupants in brilliance.
“What the hell is their problem?” Fred asked.
“I think we’re supposed to be inside or something,” Rick said.
After a minute the light was moved off the front porch and the chopper swung low along Route 59 toward the campus.
They sat in companionable silence, watching the play of lights over the campus and downtown Kent. Carlos, within the restricted area of his long leash, went from person to person, stealing their beer cans if they weren’t watching, and chugging the contents if there was any liquid left inside.
“How did you keep that monkey from climbing your leg?” Rick asked Cindy. “You know how he loves girls.”
“I didn’t wear any perfume tonight.” She leaned down and scratched his furry little head. “I figured you guys wouldn’t be paying him any attention with Jeff in jail.”
Stan said, “I’ve been making sure he had food and water, but I’m sure he’s been lonely locked in the basement for two days.”
“Maybe we should get him a friend. I saw a thing on the news about a gorilla who adopted a kitten,” Fred suggested.
“A pet for a pet? Then we would have two lonely animals locked in the basement,” Mike pointed out.
Carlos lifted a can, took a drink, then spit it out, sputtering and choking. He opened his mouth and a soaked cigarette butt fell out. It was common practice for the men to drop their cigarette butts into their empty cans, and Carlos had been unlucky enough to pick the wrong can. He shook his head and squatted back on his haunches, looking at each person with narrowed eyes. Finally, he picked up the can that still contained a wet mix of ashes and beer. He half-walked, half-hopped over to Sam whose can he had stolen and dumped the liquid on Sam’s sandaled foot.
Sam, who hadn’t been paying any attention to the little monkey, jumped to his feet, surprised by the sudden wetness. Carlos skittered away, screeching and laughing at his private joke. All the humans on the porch with the exception of Sam joined in with exaggerated hilarity. It was more of a comic relief for the tension of the past few days than the actual humor of the situation. But it felt good to laugh.
Mike looked at his watch, “Hell, I need to go call Barbie and see how she’s doing.”
“Hey, let me know when you’re off. I want to call Lisa,” Don requested.
Mike was back in a minute. “No answer. I’m heading to bed. See you guys tomorrow,” Mike said and he walked back into the house.
Don stood up. “I’ll be a while. I want to hear what happened on campus while I was gone.” He headed upstairs.
“So, tell me about your trip into town,” Cindy prompted Rick.
“Which one? Friday night or today?”
“Let’s start with the booby bar?”
“We didn’t actually go to a bar. But when we were on the Hill we saw a naked girl stick a daisy into the gun barrel of a soldier.”
“Naked? Was she pretty?”
Rick looked around, desperate for someone to save him. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to tell Cindy that the girl had had the most gorgeous naked body he had ever seen . . . in the flesh, so to speak.
“She was really cute,” he finally admitted when he got zero support from his brothers. “I know I shouldn’t have looked . . . but it was hard not to. She was about three feet away from me, and . . . well . . . it was impossible not to see it . . . all.” He swallowed deeply, then added, “But it was clear that she was only interested in men in uniform . . . with big guns . . . really.”
“And we all know you don’t have a big gun,” Stan joked.
Cindy took pity on her poor, sweating boyfriend and gave him a hug. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I love your gun.”
Catcalls and whistles echoed around the porch as Rick blushed a bright red. But at least he had dodged the bullet of an argument with Cindy. He smiled and accepted the round of teasing that showered on him. It felt good to be a brother. At that moment, he loved everything about his life.