Sorry I posted a repeat story here yesterday.  I'm getting forgetful.  Back to the boyhood stories.  After this one there are only two left.

The Jacket

It was a magnificent jacket.  Brown leather with a flannel lining.  No one in the family ever had a real leather jacket before.  Mom bought it for Dad's birthday.  She scrimped and saved on the household money for a long time to buy it.

Dad loved it!  I spotted just a hint of a tear in his eye as he tried it on for the first time.  It was a treasure.

I coveted that jacket like nothing else in my life.  If I could wear a leather jacket like that to school, or just wear it front of my friends, I would have been the King of Larkin Street!

Mom let me wear it in the house.  The sleeves hung over my hands, and it was obviously too big for me, but it was leather!  But no matter how much I nagged, Mom would not let me take it outside

 "Something will happen to it," she said.
"No it won't.  I'll be really careful.  Please?"
"No, Noel, and I don't want to hear anymore about it."

Several weeks later I was wearing the jacket in the house.  Mom asked me to go to the store for a loaf of bread.  "Can I wear the jacket?" I asked.
"No you can't," she replied.

"Please Mom, it's just to the store.  I'll be real careful.  It's only two blocks."

"Oh, alright," she said, "but you be very careful with it.  I don't want you to get it dirty or torn or anything like that.  You hear me?"

"Yeah Ma, I hear.  I'll be real careful."

Proud as a peacock I went out the front door with that magnificent jacket.  I raced up the block to Rich's house to show him.  I asked him to go to the store with me so he could verify to my classmates at school that I really had a leather jacket.

On the way to the store we stopped by Bob's house.  Ron was there too.  He went to the public school, but he was still one of our neighborhood pals.
My friends envied the jacket.  I could see it in their eyes.  Ron pretended he didn't notice it, but I knew he did.  That afternoon I was playing the role of the rich kid with his less fortunate friends.

Ron had a football.  We could go to the park and play some touch.  There were four of us.

"I can't," I said.  "I've  got to go to the store and get a loaf of bread from my mom."

"Ah, come on," said Ron.  "she won't mind if you're a little late.  We'll just play a couple of downs." 

There's always a sense of foreboding when you're about set out on a doomed mission.  I felt it deep in the pit of my stomach.  I knew something would go wrong.  But peer pressure is a powerful antidote to conscience.  

"Let's go," I said.  After all, a kid with a real leather jacket has to show some leadership.

We threw the football to each other as we ran up the side walk and crossed the street to the park.  It was just a few blocks away.  We'd play a couple downs and then I'd stop by the store for the bread on my way home.  I had plenty of time.

I carefully folded the leather jacket and put it on the bench next to the grass we were going to play on.  We chose up sides.  Rich and I would play Bob and Ron.  We held out our hands and Ron and I did the Rock, Paper, Scissors routine to see who would kick off.

The score was 12 to 6.  Rich and I were losing.  We had the ball and were in a huddle trying to come up with the next play.  Then the  first peal of the Angulus bell from Saint Brigid's Church pierced my ears like a screaming wildcat.  It was 6:00 o'clock! Panic set in!  Dad would be home by now!  Mom would be furious!

I told my friends, "I gotta go!"  I ran down the hill as fast as I could.  I raced into the grocery store and asked Mr. Bassinio for a loaf of white bread.  I handed him fifty cents and he gave me some change.  I raced home, opened the door, and ran into the kitchen. Gasping for breath I told Mom I was sorry I was late.  I handed her the bread and the change and hoped for the best.

There was fury in her eyes.  Why?  I had been late before.  I remembered the bread.  She asked, "Where's Dad's jacket?"  I was stunned.  The jacket!  It must still be at the park!  I started to cry.

Mom told me to get back to the park and find that jacket before Dad found out.  I got my brother Lee to help and we raced up the hill to the park.  The bench was empty!  There was no jacket!  We walked around the park twice, but the jacket never showed up.

The short walk down the hill seemed like miles.  I briefly thought about running away from home.  I wondered if Lee would go with me. The elation I felt 
just a couple of hours earlier turned to deep despair. This was the darkest day in my life.

Lee and I snuck in the front door.  Mom saw that we did not have the jacket.  She took me into the kitchen and told me to go out tell my Dad what I had done.

Like a convict walking the gallows,  I slowly trod my last mile from the kitchen to the living room.  With a mixture of whines and sobs I told Dad what happened.  I was so ashamed.

Dad looked disappointed.  I knew by his manner that he wasn't going to spank me.  But the hurt in his eyes stung worse than any yard stick across my behind.  He was disappointed in me.  He just walked out of the living room without saying a word.

I missed supper that night.  I just couldn't eat.  Mom and Dad left me alone to stew in my own guilt and remorse.  It was the first time I was really sorry for something I had done.  Perhaps I was beginning to mature.

Noel

Good story as usual, but that was not the ending I was expecting...