What Happened (Part 35)

But Saturday night could very well be the time for a family gathering.  If it was held elsewhere we would be dressed an ace better than we usually were, our hair slicked down with Vitalis and our scalps raked by Pop’s hard black comb. If they gathered at our house we could be a little more relaxed.  Two or three groups might arrive: perhaps the Grimms, or Uncle Bobby and his family, Aunt Ruby and Uncle Doc, and somebody would probably bring Omi along.  It could be potluck, or everybody would bring snacks and drinks.  Pop would haul out the coffee urn and get it going. After visiting and the meal, the serious business of the party would get started, and that was cards or dominoes.  There would be a group in the kitchen, one in the dining room, and if it was a particularly big party, around the grey folding table set up outside.  When we were smaller we could crawl around under the tables while they played. All doors and windows were open to their screens, and all the outside lights were on: front porch, back porch, and the light that shone on the driveway and the rectangular patch of grass on the side.  While the grown-ups banged and shuffled and laughed and cussed at their games, we boys and whatever younger cousins who had come would romp through the house and around and around the yards.  The support pole on the front porch cast a long black shadow towards the end of the yard; one game was to see how far we dared walk down this path of darkness. Sometimes I would pause while running about and look in the kitchen window at the people inside, and feel odd that I could see them and that they were unaware of me, and I would feel distant and secret and a little lonely.

Eventually it would grow too late even for our weekend excitement.  While the adults would play on fueled by caffeine, nicotine, and gambling fever, cousins would drop asleep on the couch or in the big chairs. One by one we boys would go to bed, just kicking our shoes off and laying down fully clothed, lulled to sleep by the comforting sound of far off good company.