Rest in Peace, Sweet Camelot

Eddie came in the side door of his small Cape Cod style house; located in the college town of Bridgewater, about 25 miles south of Boston. He bought here, only after he and his high school and college sweetheart, Brenda, decided to live close to their parents and aging grandparents.

Brenda was just mashing potatoes for their dinner, which was Eddie’s favorite, meatloaf. Hmmm a nice thick slab with that ketchup stripe right down the middle and the diced onions making the kind of taste that made Eddie's mouth water, he loved it. He salivated, too. Not only had he married the most beautiful girl in the world, but she enjoyed cooking and getting positive feedback, which was evidenced by Eddie’s ascending weight since their marriage a couple of years ago.

She stopped her mashing long enough to hug his neck and give him a giant mashed potato kiss. “What’s that for?” Eddie asked. Brenda said, “guess what?” and Eddie said, not knowing, but knowing, “what?” Brenda said, “I love you”, and went back to whipping the potatoes into a frenzy with lots of butter, a shake of salt and a few shakes of black pepper, just the way Eddie liked them. “How was the game, did the Bruin’s win?”, Brenda asked, knowing it was the Celtics but loved teasing Eddie into thinking she was as ditsy a blond as some folks thought she was. “Game one, Celtics win”, “only 3 more to go to be Champions, again”, Eddie answered. “And how is Dave doing? Did he get a job yet? Does he have a girlfriend?”, Brenda asked all at once. Eddie started to answer, but the phone rang and he picked up the phone, after three rings, as the cord was tied up in knots. Brenda gave him that “oops” face, smiled and returned to the kitchen. “Hello”, Eddie said and added “speak of the devil, we were just talking about you, Brenda wants to know if you have a girlfriend yet, because she knows someone you might like to plow (huge bang of denial on a pot in the kitchen), I mean date.” Brenda saw Eddie’s face go a bit serious, and Eddie said to Dave, “sure, I’ll meet you there after work, tomorrow, about 4:30, are you OK?” Hanging up the phone slowly, Eddie untied the thousands of knots of the phone cord and told Brenda what Dave had said. “It was kind of weird, he’s going out of town for a few weeks and wants to leave some of his stuff for me to hold for him.” When is he coming back”, Brenda asked? Eddie, shaking his head, said, “I don’t know”.

Finishing off his third piece of meatloaf, Eddie said “he wants to meet at the Dunkin’s Donut on route 28 in Randolph, just off 128. Dave seemed to be a little excited, and also a little nervous, but he’s taking a trip with this guy he met, named Frenchy.” Brenda said, “well find out where he’s going and why and who is this Frenchy guy?” She always asked questions in threes. “I will” said Eddie, “now grab the bottle of wine and get that cute little body over here and let’s watch Ed Sullivan and Bonanza, before going beddy-bye.”

Eddie loved Brenda, she was, as they say, the one. They grew up together on the same street, went to elementary school, junior high school and high school and always were friends. If someone picked on her, Eddie would step in, and if Eddie got wounded on the football field, nurse Brenda was always there to see him back to health. They dated others during high school, but nothing ever serious. Brenda would complain to Eddie, that this guy kissed badly or had bad breath or they would be too forward for her taste; but in her heart, and Eddie knew it, she loved and wanted only him. Eddie adored her from the first moment they met, he never dreamed of a future where she wasn’t the center of his world, the love of his life the mother of his children, his partner, in everything. For Eddie, Brenda was the one he wanted to grow old with, and though his love for sports often interrupted Brenda’s plans, he always returned to her at the end of the day.

They cuddled and smooched and watched the shows and then to bed, no thoughts of Dave and his sudden weirdness, only fitting close to each other, holding and kissing and pleasuring one another until they melted together, one person, sated and both welcoming the bliss of sleep. Ah, beddy-bye, sweet beddy-bye. ohhh oh oh ohhh ohhh oh oh ohhh