Have you ever wonder what to say and how to behave when meeting the in-laws, or in-law-to-be? Well, you are not alone in this regard. Manley was wondering about those things too, but then came the day when he would have met up with them, unplanned and unprepared.
This is how it went down. Partly.
Manley would have dropped Libby home after an afternoon out with her at the movies. And this is the outcome. Here is episode 17 in the series. and Chapter Seventeen from the book.
Chapter Seventeen
Problem? What problem?
After the movie, I took her home. That was when the troubles start...
Her parents were waiting for her, and when I say waiting, I mean, they were literally standing there at the door kind of waiting, yes, that kind of waiting, for her.
“Who is this?” The father asked even before any exchange of greetings, “who is this?”
“Hi Dad, this is my friend Manley...”
“Manley, Manley who... What is this about?”
“Like I said, Dad, he is a friend of mine, we go to the same school, and he did offer to take me home today and I accepted the offer. I never did think that that would pose a problem.”
“Problem? Problem? Why would it be a problem? Let him in, come in, come in and tell us more, I want to hear some more about this...”
As of late, I have been finding myself playing a song over and over in my head and singing along to the lingering refrain, and it goes something like this:
Miss Luba's one daughter, she's a girl I love,
I'm gonna marry her soon,
Under a silvery moon.
However, only bubbles and I knew about this little song, and I was looking forward to popping the big question, after consulting with and receiving the blessings of the Dahousts family of course.
But after this encounter, after what had just happened here tonight, I have to be thinking of another song to sing:
I'm not sure anymore, more.
Who is knocking at my door, door...
Libby's family home is a duplex in Kirkland, near the strip mall on St Charles Boulevard. They, all four of them, used to occupy the main floor of the house, and the upper floor was rented out, right up until just over a year ago when Kamal got married or was married off to a girl he hardly even knew.
Now, Kamal and his young family occupy that space. In a sense, it is still rented out because, Kamal has been paying rent to his father, not the full amount like that which the previous tenant was paying but, it's rent payment anyways.
His father said that he has to teach the boy (he still calls him boy even at twenty-six and married, with a second child on the way), so he is out to teach "the boy" how to be responsible in life.
The well-manicured lawn out front was still mostly covered over with dark, dirty snow and ice.
The temperature has been fluctuating widely in recent times, rising and falling, but mostly rising significantly over the last week or so. I even saw a couple of white Lilies spouting out from under the sappy, Fall leftover grass from last year.
Those first blooming spring lilies were spouting up along the peripheries near the ice mounds where the brown-greenish grass was already bouncing back from hibernation.
I had gotten as far as up to the granite tiles at the front door.
Mr. Dahoust's words were saying, come in, “come in, and tell us more,” but his eyes were saying something quite different and very frightening.
“I really have to be going now.” I had said, “maybe some other time we can meet up when it is more convenient and more planned out, as opposed to me just dropping in on you unannounced like this.”
He didn't take the hand which I had offered.
“No, no,” he protested, “you really must come on in and sit down and talk to me.”
His wife though, she waved a shaking bye-bye hand at me as I turned and walked away. “Some other time sir.” I had said, “and I will come back to talk to you but I really must go now.”
That was the last I have seen of Libby since, in the ways as I have come to know her.
That’s it for now folks. See you again tomorrow.
Continue reading this chapter and much more.
Get the Manley book and read the whole story.
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Extra, extra. On this day in history.
Tues. Feb. 12th
1968 - "Soul on Ice" by Eldridge Cleaver was published for the first time.
1912 - China's boy emperor Hsuan T'ung announced that he was abdicating, ending the Manchu Ch'ing dynasty. Subsequently, the Republic of China was established.
1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded.
1879 - The first artificial ice rink opened in North America. It was at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY.
1870 - In the Utah Territory, women gained the right to vote.
1554 - Lady Jane Grey was beheaded after being charged with treason. She had claimed the throne of England for only nine days.
So why do I write? I heard someone ask.
And the answer is: I'm a guy of many words, but whose tongue is slow and heavy, and my words tend to come out awkward and clumsy, so I write, because I always have something to say, I think. Which always tends to get me into trouble anyway. The extra bonus though, in writing is that a pencil usually comes with an eraser.
Thewritingelk
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