Mr. Mento

I brought the house lights up, the stage lights down, and then put some apron lights on Mr. Mento and his swag. The crowd laughed and milled around as he took money and charge cards on his Square account. Jen and I busied ourselves striking the chairs and Mr. Mento's cases. Well, I busied myself. Jen returned her gown to costumes and then spent the rest of the time basking in her new found celebrity out in the lobby. I swept the stage and picked up the small amount of litter in the house and locked up getting back to Mr. Mento and his tables just as he made his last satisfied customer.

"Thank you so much, Jeff! Your help...and Jen's...made everything easy." He shook my hand. "Let me help you with these tables."

"Naw, thanks anyway, Mr. Mento. Go get out of your tux, and I'll finish up here."

He nodded. I folded the tables and set them on the stage, jumped up and filed them in the cart. Work lights on, I disconnected and stowed the light board and set the equity light. I heard Mr. Mento coming up from the dressing rooms and met him at the top of the stairs with his stage props.

"I didn't see any books or DVDs left," I said as Mr. Mento held the door for me.

"Sold out."

We turned left and exited the building to his van. I loaded his cases and reached to shake his hand.

"I did save you one." He placed a book in my hand and clapped me on the shoulder.

"Oh, no, Mr. Mento. I can't take this."

"Please. You don't know some of the places I have to work. You and Jen made this evening fun for me. Made it easier to entertain folks." He pushed the book into my hands and I accepted it.

"Don't lose the bookmark." He offered as he stepped up into the driver's seat, started the engine, and backed out. He gave me a wave as he drove off.

I watched his tail lights fade and then went to find Jake, the night janitor, so he could lock up. Jen was waiting in the lobby typing on her phone. She smiled and then turned her back and headed for the door as she finished up texting or whatever she was doing. I put my arm around her waist, and she put her phone away cuddling up as I escorted her to my truck.

Granpa's flame red Jimmy was my pride and joy. My great granpa had bought the truck, a 1954 GMC 250 flatbed, when he got out of the Marine Corps the year my Granpa was born. My Granpa had rebuilt it. When Granpa died, he left it to my Dad. And he'd made it mine.

I helped Jen up and she slid under the steering wheel and across the bench seat. I followed her into the cab. I reached over her jean clad thighs and slapped Mr. Mento's book into the glove box. I clutched, toed the starter button, put him in gear, and away we went.

"You want to stop on the way home?" Jen asked.

"Just for a while, Jen, Coach wants us all to be a little stricter with bedtime this week. There's a lot on the line."

I pulled into a dark parking lot behind the garage at Dan's Towing just a couple of blocks short of Jen's house. Dan had a pretty good wrecking yard, and Granpa had been a good customer when he was rebuilding Jimmy. I knew my way around there, and there weren't any security systems or cameras, so it was nice and private. Another advantage to living in small town America.

I killed the lights and engine then turned to Jen putting my right arm behind her head on the top of the seat as she slipped her left arm between me and the seat back. I kissed her uplifted lips gently teasing with my tongue. She answered and I rested my left hand on her hip, my thumb softly exploring the crease where her leg joined her torso under her jeans. She broke our kiss and stretched, exposing her neck. I moved to this new location and she hummed in appreciation. Her right hand was stroking my thigh...purposely missing my dick but taking my imagination on a wild ride.

Encouraged, I rushed things a little bit by inching my touch up Jen's waist arriving at her ribcage just below her breast. She clamped her elbow against my hand when she figured I'd gone far enough, but she returned to long, wet kisses on the mouth as a sort of consolation prize.

I don't know why, probably just pissed that she'd suckered me into another opportunity to enjoy blue balls for the rest of the night, but I drew back and looked into her eyes. They were open and challenging. I tilted my head a little and gave her a peck on the cheek. I disentangled my arms turning back to the steering wheel.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh. I see." Jen retrieved her arm from behind me as she leaned a little to the right putting some space between us. I turned the key and hit the starter. The heater came on and the cab started to warm up. I twisted the knob on the defroster and it took care of the fog that had started to build up on the windshield. She frowned, arms crossed.

I shrugged. "It's already 9:30. I won't get home til 10:00. It's not like I live here in town. You know how long it takes me to get out to the farm, and I've got chores to do in the morning." She was still chilly and turned farther away. "I kinda owe my best effort to the other guys." The other guys were Bill, Alan, and Tony--my teammates who had also qualified for state.

"Basketball players never have to go to bed early during tourney time," she said frowning out the passenger side window and angling her shoulders even farther away from me.

I put my hand on the gearshift knob. "When was the last time the b-ball team got past regionals?" I asked pointedly as I put my truck in gear and maneuvered out of the parking area.

This was a sore point in our little town. Historically, our basketball program had been an annual participant in the 'A' classification state tournament. 'A' might sound impressive, but the classifications went all the way up to quadruple 'A'.

When Jen and I had been Freshmen, the varsity had made it to district but bombed out. Townspeople were up in arms, and the school board insisted on a coaching change. Out with the old and in with the new! Same thing happened when we were Sophomores. New coach number two. I only played a few games of junior varsity for new head coach number three my Junior year because I had suffered a knee injury in football. I re-injured the knee and, spent the year on the bench. Actually, a Junior on junior varsity had no future in the program anyway. When the game of musical coaches continued into my Senior year, I looked for something else to fill the long hours before drama rehearsal during those cold winter months following football season.

"Roddy said they were robbed last year!" Jen snapped, pulling my attention back to the here and now.

Roddy would be Roddy Monson, three year starting point guard and Jen's ex. He was a year older than Jen and I and had tried to walk-on at the small college level at Pacific Lutheran, but it was not in the cards. Roddy had been a big fish in our small pond, but at the next level...not so much.

Like I said, the dating dynamics of our school were pretty strict. Upper class boys reached down into the lower classes for girl friends because girls in their classes were already taken by older guys. Sure, there was a little churn as passions for each other heated and cooled, but generally that was the pattern. Jen had been Roddy's steady for three years and I think had been trying to maintain a long distance relationship through the first semester of her senior year while he was off at college.

I'd gone to visit a few campuses last fall, and I could see how difficult the odds were for high school sweethearts. There were more girls in some classes at the collegiate level than in my entire school...and all of them located within easy walking distance...with their own rooms...sometimes just down the hall...and no parents...anywhere. When Jen had asked if I wanted to go to the Christmas Formal dance, I didn't question why she was available, I kinda figured I knew.

"Robbed?" I rolled my eyes looking both ways before pulling out onto Cedar Street. "They never led in their elimination game and Saint Paddy won going away because we were desperate for possession and fouled to get the ball. Trouble is, the Crusaders never missed a free throw and Roddy missed all his three point shots."

We were at Jen's house by then. You're never far from anywhere in Clark. I put Jimmy in neutral, set the parking brake, left the engine idling, and jumped out to help Jen down. We usually would walk together to her door and maybe smooch til her dad flipped the porch light off and on. Not tonight. She quick-like walked ahead of me and was inside before I was up the steps. She did turn and say 'Goodnight' before she swung the door shut in my face.

Jimmy's top speed is about fifty miles per hour on a straight road. The trip home, over not straight roads, took the full half hour I had predicted. I drove through the barnyard and parked him in his slot in the machine shed. As I covered the fifty yards to the house, I could see Mom and Dad at the dining room table. Mom was reading and Dad was probably doing the books. I came up the back steps and through the kitchen to stand next to the table.

Mom used her finger to mark her place. "How was school?" She asked like she always did.

"Good." I responded.

"What did you learn?" Dad asked not looking up from his paperwork.

I always had to have something ready, some new knowledge to share. "Um...I've got that new counter for the single leg down pretty good." I teased.

"Doesn't count. You know that. School learning, not extra stuff. And that should be 'down pretty well,'" sighed Mom.

They'd never let me use anything from extra-curricular activities like Choir or Drama, and certainly not sports. The game had to be played, though. "OK. Dickens was paid by the word, and some critics claim the economics of serialized writing contributed to the verbose style of 19th Century English literature. English in the sense of the country, not the language."

They both nodded. "Anything you need to tell us?" Dad asked.

"Nope. Still a virgin." I smiled as we re-enacted a scene from every date I'd ever had.

"Good," said Dad. "In that case, I'll do your chores tomorrow so you can sleep in a little." He looked at me and smiled. "I know you think it's a little strange we harp on this so much, but we want you to know how important it is to us that you have every possible advantage in life. You're all accepted at college, now, and our job is almost done. Just don't expect us to let up here in the fourth quarter."

I didn't actually get any extra sleep. My body woke up at the same time it normally did, and I knew from experience I wouldn't go back to sleep. I got dressed and went out with Dad so together we could make short work of the chores.

We watched the herd of polled Herefords feed. "Love is not so strange, Son," said my father out of the blue.

"How so?" I asked.

"So many things mankind has invented follow the natural models that existed before we had need for the technology. Take your Jimmy. It's actually like a relationship." I looked incredulously at my dad. "No, really," he countered. "Think of all the things that have to be present and working for it to run."

I removed my gloves looking skeptical.

"Won't run without gas, won't run without spark, won't run without air..." Dad stopped.

"Needs water to keep it from overheating and oil to keep it lubed up," I added, grinning.

Dad grinned back. "Gas and spark seems pretty self-explanatory," he offered. "Boy meets girl...kapow! And sometimes that's all a couple ever has going for them. Just lust. Evolution has hardwired that into us so mankind doesn't die out. However, civilization has imposed some speed bumps so just making babies isn't enough. We have to keep 'em alive, and that takes some teamwork, and teamwork requires a relationship."

"So, air keeps combustion, or er...attraction going...call it love, maybe?"

Dad smiled, skeptical. "Attraction plus a mutual concern for your other." He broke another bale off into the feeder. "I like it, but you might keep thinking about that."

As a thought problem it piqued my interest. "I remember Freshman year we read Romeo and Juliet. We had a long discussion about how out of control their passion was. A breakdown in communication and a couple hasty decisions, and everything is gone. What would you call the thing acting to cool things down?"

Dad frowned. "I think you said it...communication. Every team has to communicate effectively...and not just between themselves."

I was sorta on a roll. "So communication is like air preventing the overheating? AND..." I continued, "lack of communication won't kill the relationship, immediately. It will cause a continuous degradation...a slow death."

"Um...I'm gonna let you think about that one, but I think you're on the right track. Not to mention transmission and driveline," Dad added. "Take either one of those away and you're not gonna get to school today," he grinned and gave me a slap on my back as we jumped down off the bed of his pickup, got in the cab, and headed back to the house.

I packed my duffle bag for the trip to Tacoma. I didn't really need a suitcase. Most of the time we'd be in uniform at the Dome. A change of clothes, pajamas and spare underwear would be our only necessities. I did put in some soap and deodorant...also tooth paste and such. I parked in the secure lot near the locker room and started to throw the keys into the glove box. My eyes fell upon the colorful cover of the book I'd gotten from Mr. Mento. I grabbed it and shoved it into a pocket of my duffle then filed my keys away.

The student body gave us a little send off...nothing as impressive as a b-ball pep rally...but everybody came to the windows as we drove off in a district van from the front of the school.

Our Wednesday night turnout was at the tournament site. We weighed in, which was important to me because I had to work to maintain the hundred and ninety pounds for my weight class. Bill, at a hundred and six, was up a smidge, but he did a few laps around the giant venue and kept his spit cup handy. Alan and Tony were solidly in their classes. Coach talked a little about strategy. All the other guys had been wrestlers since they were Freshmen. They'd actually all been to state before. Tony, twice. I figured the talk was mostly for me.

Coach drove the van back to the motel and we tucked in for the night. Alan and I roomed together and we were too nervous to sleep at first.

"Who you got tomorrow?" Alan asked.

"The kid from Washougal, Denny Redstone?" I answered.

Alan nodded. "Yeah. Be cautious. Don't over extend." He paused. I could see he wanted to say more.

"Yeah? What?" I asked.

"Tell ya tomorrow...don't wanna jinx anything. Get some sleep."

I shrugged and turned over. Next thing I knew; it was morning. We put on our uniforms and warm-ups and met in the lobby. We loaded the van and were silent as we rode to weigh-in. Each weight class weighed in in order. One ninety was last...Unlimited weighed in but only to ensure no one was two weight classes light...the supers had the same restriction, but at the state level there were no kids wrestling up. I made it four out of four that qualified. Coach gathered us together in the first row of the stands in the northeast corner of the Dome.

"Remember, it's just like Districts and Regionals but with more mats. I showed you where to check the location of your match. It's up to you to get there, and I'll show up, trust me." He was looking right at me because, like I said, the others had been there before. "With this many mats, it'll go faster than you expect. Don't fall asleep. Look out for each other. You all know how it works. Get there and do your job."

Coach took Bill off into the ocean of wrestling mats spread across the expanse of the arena. It seemed like no time had passed until Coach was escorting me through the maze. He stopped and I stripped off my warmups.

"Do what you do best, Jeffy. Use your strength. You only need to win by one point.." He watched me stretch and I turned toward the mat. The world shrank.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I got the takedown and rode him out through the first period. Took disadvantage in the second and had an escape and fought Redstone off for the last thirty seconds. I controlled him from advantage in the third and tipped him over for a near fall walking around a single arm bar. Simple stuff that my strength made effective.

Mom and Dad were there in the stands when we returned to our home base from the mats. Mom hugged me and Dad shook my hand. All four of us had gotten through the first bracket with wins. Allen had gotten his with a pin in the first round. Pins at State were rare, rare enough that they added a point to our team score--a point for each of us advancing and a point for the pin. Now we just wanted to rest until the afternoon session.

The kid from Hillside was smaller than I was but very fast. He just stayed away from me until he got a warning for stalling. I tied up and pushed him through. He turned clear around avoiding my control, but the period ended before he or I could make anything work. He had the choice and took disadvantage. He immediately got an escape and kept his distance again. I went into the third period down by a point.

I got lucky. He tried some fancy leg ride, but I was too strong and sat out and up. He had to keep the leg ride or give up the escape or a reversal. I forced my arm through between us and gathered him up trying to put him on his back. He got turned around so he was facing the mat, but I had his legs crossed with my knee on the mat between them. I ended the match working for an arm bar and took the win 2 -- 1 on the reversal.

Coach grinned as I took off my headgear. "When I said you only had to win by one point, it was a suggestion, not an order." Alan, Bill, and Tony mobbed me back in our corner and I got hugs from both Mom and Dad and the early crowd cheered.

I settled down on the warm-up mat that was our territory. I moved my duffle out of Tony's way and felt the book I'd thrown in there yesterday. I wasn't tired...actually I was kinda fired up...so I pulled the book out and opened it. It was entitled Mind Control and the bookmark was a Marvelous Mr. Mento business card. All his pertinent stuff was on the front and, as I placed it back between the pages to begin reading, I could see Mr. Mento had written on the back.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon in the book and watching a few matches on the mats near our corner of the Dome. They wouldn't let us just wander around. The matches that afternoon eliminated half the wrestlers who had lost in the first rounds. My first opponent got a win to stay alive for Friday, but the Hillside kid lost again.

We went to dinner as a team then back to the motel. We met with Coach and then hit the hay. I returned to my book as Alan and I got under the covers.

"Jeff, I want to thank you for your help this year."

I scoffed. "What have I done?"

"You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"You won the state championship today."

"Whoa, I still have two days to wrestle!"

"Heh! Not your weight class! The team title."

I suppose I looked confused.

"Last year, Tony, Bill, and I finished third here. If we wrestle only as well as we did then, your points should put us in first place Saturday night. Thanks."

I nodded. "K...glad I could help." We killed the lights and tried to sleep.

We didn't have to weigh in the next day. Thursday's would suffice for the entire tournament. The twelve survivors of the previous day would wrestle in the morning session. There were fewer mats on the floor today, but we stuck to our domain in the corner. We even had a few more loyal fans there to hang with. More than just our parents, anyway. I kind of thought maybe Jen would show up, but I didn't see her.