Mrs. O'Shea was in the kitchen and when Paula introduced me after showing off her rose I took her hand in both of mine and stalled with honesty. "Nice to meet you Mrs. O'Shea" I said, I can see now where your daughters beauty came from" When I finally released her hand I was exhausted and dizzy.
I leaned nonchalantly (I hoped) on the table as she laughed "we'd better watch out for this one. It sounds like he's got a touch of the Blarney about him!"
I looked at her and said "funny, you don't look Irish." Actually, she didn't. Paula and Jeff were both red-haired but their mother was a lovely raven haired woman, though her hair was thinner than I thought it should be.
The only similarities were their figures and height, which I believed would be identical when Paula was older. If so, she would be stunning. Mrs. O'Shea was about 5' 10" with a very nice figure in the range of 36-23-34.
I had noticed as I took her hand that she had looked extremely pale. I hoped it wasn't my imagination but it seemed like she was less so now.
She smiled and said "my side of the family is German. My maiden name was Lustig, and my first name is Frieda. The Irish is all from Matthew O'Shea!" I chuckled and said that I thought her name suited her.
When Paula saw her mother blush she looked at me and asked me what I meant. I explained that in German Frieda meant peace and joy and Lustig meant happiness. Paula laughed, but her mom surprised me by knowing a bit about German names herself. "we will definitely have to watch this one.
Did he tell you what his name meant?" Of course I hadn't and it was my turn to blush when her mother told her I was a "sweet and affectionate one." Paula didn't laugh this time.
She hugged me and said "I think you were both well named" just as her father walked in. He was in time to see the hug but pretended to ignore it. I thought I saw an "I'll tell you later" look pass from her mom to her dad.
I heard someone else come in and turned to see Jeff and Sue had joined the party and soon everyone was ready to eat. The conversation was lively at their table and I enjoyed myself immensely, even the teasing was good-natured. I found out that Paula's mom was a teacher and her father was an engineer.
I think he was impressed with what knowledge I let show but I tried not to get too technical on him. The things I had worked with hadn't been invented yet.
When they found out what my dad did Mr. O'Shea earned a dirty look from his wife by commenting that it must pay better than he thought.
He noticed and amended his statement. "I'm sorry. It's just that I know what that house listed for that your folks bought. It was pretty steep."
I said "I know, but we didn't pay the asking price. The guy who owned it was getting divorced and evidently he didn't care much for his wife. It was in his name and he sold it cheap to get rid of it so she couldn't get it. Besides, we make most of our money on investments."
His curiosity must have been aroused so when he asked what kinds I gave him a short list. He must have known something about the market because when I got done he whistled "wow!" he said, "pretty impressive, got any advice?"
I thought he might have been patronizing me a bit so I said "In the short term there is a rumor that Wal-Mart is going public this fall and we think it will do very well.
In the mid-term, there's going to be an artificial oil shortage caused by the Arabs in about 3 years, probably in late 1973. When it happens, wait for the price of oil company stock to bottom out and then load up on it. My dad will probably join mom in retirement on those two."
He wasn't as current with politics as we were but I think he started to see the possibility that I (or my folks) might be right about the Arabs.
"That's how people make money in the market" I said, "look for trends, probabilities and outcome. It's worked well for us so far. I've even invested my own money and my college fund is paid before I start junior high."
Paula was steaming when she walked me out. "OOO! I can't believe him. He was trying to make you look like a dumb little kid in there!"
I told her "It's his job to grill potential boyfriends gorgeous, that's what fathers do. He loves you and no boy will ever be good enough for you. I just hope I he didn't think I was showing off and get mad at me.
Speaking of parents, how is your mom doing?" I asked because I was curious as well as anxious to change the subject.
She sighed "some days are good and some days are awful. She gets really sick for a couple of days when they do the chemotherapy. They seem to think it's working though.
She's supposed to go in for some blood work and stuff tomorrow and more chemo after they get the results. It's going to be a tough weekend for her. My dad wants us out of the house. Jeff is going somewhere with Sue so I could visit you if you want me to."
I had to explain to her about helping Beth move in that weekend but suggested that if she was willing to help, we could hang out together afterwards and she liked the idea.
The first thing in the morning I ordered a dozen roses for Paula's mother and scheduled the delivery for 3PM Friday. I made it a bouquet of red and white mixed, with a single yellow rose in the center.
I asked my mother if I could go with her to the hospital for her tests. She seemed genuinely glad that I offered but it took some convincing before she agreed. When we arrived I collared her doctor and took him aside.
I asked if it was possible to get the results today and was surprised to learn that he would have them in about an hour. It seems he and the lab were both almost as anxious as we were for the results. I waited with my mom in the cafeteria and tried to keep her mind off of things while we waited.
She agreed quickly that I should invite Paula for dinner Friday, commenting that anything that would get me over to visit was fine with her. She smiled when she said that because I made it a point to stop in when I had a chance.
I promised her to try and spend more time with the family but she laughed and said she was just kidding and she really wanted to meet my new girlfriend. I had to caution her on that, explaining that we were just good friends.
We talked about inconsequential things like the garden, yard, and other stuff we wanted to do at the house for three hours before the doctor finally showed up and led us to his office.
We sat down and my mother looked at him expectantly. He rubbed his eyes and leaned over the desk, shaking his head before saying "I apologize for taking so long but I had to be sure. I don't know how to explain what I have seen.
I reviewed every single test that we ran on you. The first two showed a cyst the size of a softball that was growing at an alarming rate but was benign. The third and fourth sets showed perfectly healthy bone mass.
I can't explain this because it is simply not medically possible for it to happen. If I weren't by nature a skeptical person I would say that this is a miracle and that you have somehow been cured without medical intervention since I last saw you.
Because I am a physician and believe in science I am going to schedule you for regular tests every three months for the next year to make sure there is no reoccurrence of your condition even though I don't believe it will happen.
It's not only as if the cyst had never formed but other incidental items in the test results have also improved. The early stage arthritis and elevated blood pressure are gone as well. I have to ask; have you done anything, anything at all, in the way of treatment of any kind which may in some way help explain this?"
He was still shaking his head and muttering to himself as we left. My mom was disbelieving, happy, and totally in shock. My brother and I were barred from the house for the evening. Al brought over a fifth of Wild Turkey 101 and we had our own celebration.
The girls had a soccer game Friday before our game so I wandered over to the park early. Jeff and Pete were both there when I showed up.
When I asked why they just pointed at the field and we all said "warm-ups" at the same time and smiled. All that stretching, bending over (with their rear always pointed in our direction for some reason) and jumping was a sight worth seeing.