“Do I have time for a quick shower?” I asked as I entered the kitchen, the appetizing aroma of food almost changing my mind. I wasn’t that dirty, a shower could wait.
“If you make it quick,” Mrs. Ramirez replied carrying a pot from the stove to the sink in order to drain the water from it. “Supper is just about on the table.”
I took my shower in record time, my stomach growling fiercely every few seconds. I decided I probably should start taking a snack of some sort to the Suzuki’s for the bus ride home because the hunger pangs I experienced every day were becoming downright painful at times.
Steadily scooping large forkfuls of food off my plate and into my mouth without a break, I was unaware at first that Tony and Mrs. Ramirez were watching me rather than eating.
“What’s wrong?” I mumbled with my mouth full, eyeing them guardedly.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Tony assured me, a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth. “We just have some news we thought you might be interested in.”
“Good or bad?” I asked warily, only slightly reassured by the smile on Tony’s face.
“We think the news is good,” Mrs. Ramirez reached over and put her hand in her husband’s. “We’re going to have a baby.”
“That’s good timing,” I murmured almost to myself.
“What’s good timing?” Tony asked confused. “We’ve been trying for years.”
“Yeah, too much information,” I said hastily. “What I meant was I have something to tell you, too, but until now I wasn’t sure how to do it.”
“You can tell us anything, Jack, you know that,” Mrs. Ramirez said reproachfully.
“I’m joining the Marines,” I said bluntly.
“You’re only seventeen,” Mrs. Ramirez reminded me gently “And still in high school.”
“It’s what I want to do.”
“But what about college…?” Tony asked anxiously. “If it’s the money…”
“I can always go to college afterward and get it paid for.”
“When do you plan to enlist?” Tony asked.
“I’ll have enough credits to graduate at mid-term and I’ll be eighteen in January so I thought I would enlist by the first of February. That way you’ll have plenty of time to get my room changed over to a nursery before the baby is born.”
“We would never kick you out, Jack,” Mrs. Ramirez said with tears in her eyes. “You’re family as much as the new baby is. You don’t have to do this.”
“I know that, but I want to,” I said adamantly. “I’ve wanted it since junior high.”
“You know we would never try to hold you back from doing something you really wanted to do,” Tony sighed in resignation “but we’ll miss you.”
“And we’ll expect you back here with us every time you’re on leave,” Mrs. Ramirez added decisively.
“On two conditions,” I qualified “As long as you always have meatloaf Monday.”
“I think I can do that,” Mrs. Ramirez smiled in relief.
“And the other condition…?” Tony asked, playing along.
“You keep our fishing poles ready to go at all times,” I finished gravely.
“Hmm…” Tony pretended to ponder. “You drive a hard bargain, but I think I can just manage it.”
“And when your son is born, he can join us,” I added generously.
“Oh no,” Mrs. Ramirez objected, “I don’t think so. I am already outnumbered. This little one is going to be a girl,” she added glancing down and patting her tummy. “Aren’t you, my precious?”
Tony and I rolled our eyes and I went back to eating.
“Whatever you say, dear,” Tony said soothingly, picking up his fork.
“See,” Mrs. Ramirez was still speaking to her midriff “You’ll have Daddy wrapped around your little finger, just like I do.”
“Lucky you,” I grimaced at him.
“Yeah, I am,” Tony concurred seriously “Very lucky.”