You've Got the Biggest Heart, Sometimes I Think You're Just Too Good for Me...
I moved out of my apartment on Beacon Street in the dark of night. I didn't owe any rent, but by leaving, I was breaking the lease. I didn't leave a forwarding address, and as a result, I didn't receive any mail. I was flying under the '70s grid, which wasn't very difficult.
Susan's father came into Boston in his plumbing van, and he and I moved Susan out of her dorm. She earned her Associate's Degree in Early Childhood and was looking forward to working at a daycare center in Brockton over the summer before we got married and moved to Florida.
I moved in with Neil and his roommate, Jeff, in Stoughton, and I didn't mind sleeping on the pullout couch in the living room. I'd done it in Sharon for a while and then again in New London, Connecticut, when I was 13.
I enjoyed working for Pokey and driving his 1965 Ford F-600 dump truck, and being in charge of a full crew. We worked with both crews on a lot of jobs. I enjoyed landscape construction, and because Pokey was my best friend, that made it even more fun. We drank a shit ton of beer after work, and like everything else we did, it was always a contest. Sometimes I won, sometimes he did, but we always got extremely drunk...
I was on a job one day, and I had to run back to Pokey's house to get something out of the garage, when his mother, Marie, ran out to talk to me. She rarely did that, so I knew something was up.
"Vinnie, Joe died (Pokey's father had been sick), and you're gonna have to go tell Steve and get him to come home right away."
I'd become close with Pokey's mother and father, and having to be the one to tell him about his father's passing was no easy task. On the way back to the job, I had to decide how I was gonna do it...
Pokey was on the job working hard, like he always did, when I arrived. I yelled over to him, "Hey Poke, C'mere for a sec..."
"I'm busy, Vin. What do ya want?"
"I need to talk to you..."
He dropped his shovel and came over to me. "I'm busy, Vin. What do you want?"
"I've got some bad news... Your mother just told me your father died. Sorry, man. She needs you to come home right away."
Most people didn't know Pokey the way I did. On the surface, he was a tough guy, but underneath his hardened exterior was a sensitive and emotional person. I could see he was overwhelmed.
"You go home, Poke. I'll stay here and make sure the job gets done."
I didn't own a real suit. All I had was a leisure suit for clubbing. On the day of Joe's funeral, I had no choice but to wear it. It consisted of a low-slung double-breasted blue and white plaid sport jacket, some pleaded navy blue dress pants with narrow cuffs, a white button-down shirt, a narrow black tie, and black platform shoes with thick 3" heels. When I walked into the funeral parlor, Pokey took one look at me and asked sarcastically, "What the fuck are you wearin', Vin? You think you're goin' to a disco or somethin'?"
"It's all I had, Steve. The only other ensemble in my extensive wardrobe included faded jeans, beat-up work boots, and an Aerosmith t-shirt..."
He shook his head in disgust before he asked, "Have you seen him yet?"
"No."
"C'mon..."
I followed him over to the open casket, and we took a look at Joe. I didn't know what to say, so I said, "He looks good, Poke. Real good..." After I shook my head in agreement with what I just said, the two of us just stood there and stared at him for a good, long minute.
Steve's uncle, Joe's brother, had flown in for the funeral. He had a rental car and an unquenchable thirst. After the funeral, he drove into Boston to drown his sorrow and got so drunk he forgot where he parked the rental. Pokey and I drove into Boston in Joe's light blue Chevette. His uncle handed him the keys, described the rental car, and gave us a general location where he might've left it.
It took a while, but we found it and returned it just in the nick of time. Steve's uncle stood six foot three, was a real character, and one of the founding fathers of Federal Express.
Susan and I continued going to the beach all summer. She told me we needed good tans for the wedding pictures. She also had me doing exercises in her screened porch after work. Most were women's exercises designed to firm up your butt and inner thighs. After long days in the hot sun doing landscape construction, I really didn't need to exercise, but since it was with Susan, I did it, and we always had a lot of laughs. I wasn't very flexible and sometimes, mid-exercise, I'd topple over...
As summer started winding down and the August 19th wedding date drew near, Susan and I began packing our clothes and labeling the boxes for shipment to my parents' condo in Miami.
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(I wanted so badly to trust him...)
We were getting very excited. And, if I'm being honest, I started feeling a slight chill creeping into both feet. I was battling my own insecurity, and I thought Susan was just too good for me, but I wasn't about to let her slip away...
You give me the sweetest taboo
That's why I'm in love with you
You're giving me the sweetest taboo
You've got the biggest heart, sometimes I think you're just too good for me...
To be continued...