It was a coupl'a days after New Year's & their friend Don L had asked EuEarl & KC to keep on eye on his place while he & his family were away.
" Visit my wife's bitch aunt in Olney for a few days. Even the damn dawg's comin' with us ! So, I'm obliged to y'all for checkin' on the place once a day while we're gone." He rifled through the center console of his new model Buick Electra Estate Wagon. " Where's them extra damn house ke...Ah ! Here they are !" Don L bounced the keys in his palm a few times." You guy's are free to stay over, if ya like, long as y'all want. Frig is stocked full still from Christmas. Hell, just treat the place as if it's yer own !", he said, tossing the keys to EuEarl from his driver side window. Then Don L suddenly smirked. " But change the sheets after !"
Don L, who owned the largest auto salvage & wrecking yard in Mudflap County, was one of the few people in nearby Euwalla who not only knew of, but accepted KC & EuEarl's relationship for what it was. Don L himself was straight, a regular attendee at the Euwalla United Methodist Church & a Barry Goldwater Republican. He'd served in Korea & later done a tour during the early years of the Vietnam War, before being honorably discharged shortly before the '65 escalation of the conflict. It had, in fact, been his military past that had open the door to friendship between he & the Boys, as EuEarl himself had served in the military from June of '58 to December of '62. However, they wouldn't meet until several years after both had completed their service.
KC had become a regular customer of Don L's from the moment he moved to Mudflap County, his ol' pickup being held together primarily with rust, paint, spit & hope. Later, when KC'd started showing up with his 'friend' EuEarl in early 1970, Don L pretty quickly put two & two together. While they were both always polite & friendly customers, EuEarl, unlike KC, was more than willing to engage in casual conversation. So, it wasn't long before he & Don L began to bond over their military past.
It was during one those conversations, as KC searched the yard for a distributor cap, that the two veterans had swapped stories about what they'd both been doing & thinking during the Cuban Missile Crisis, that the truth had come out.
Don L was finishing up, "... An' I told myself, then & there, ' If this world is still in one piece once this missile shit is over, Lord, I swear, this here hitch is my last !'. I'd given Uncle Sam 12 years of my Life. Glad 'n' proud to've given 'em, too, but I figured my wife & kids was due the better part of the rest of my Life !" Then, EuEarl noticed, Don L's tone turned a different shade of serious. "Time ain't never somethin' to waste, EuEarl. Or to take away from people ya care about."
It had taken less than a second for EuEarl to understand. And a corner of his mouth shot upward. "So much for discretion.", he said."That obvious, huh ?"
" Yeah.", Don L nodded. " Very 'That obvious'." Don L patted him on the back.
" I cain't speak for the town, bud, but you can tell 'im fer me," he gestured toward KC, half buried from the waist up under the hood of a '58 Studebaker Scotsman, " That I'm fine wit' it ."
All that flashed through EuEarl's mind as he caught the keys in his left hand.
" That everything ?", Don L asked himself out loud." Don L. Babich, you're forgettin' somethin', I know it. Cain't think what, though."
" Anything need doing around the place?", EuEarl offered.
" Naw.... But,yeah. The kitchen floor's just been polished, so tread careful in there; okay ? It's a mite slippery !" He waved as he slipped the huge wagon into DRIVE. "Gotta run. Mae & the kid's are waiting for me. Thanks, bud!'Preciate ya !", he called out.
" You guys have a safe trip !", EuEarl called after him, as the huge wood paneled Buick pulled away onto the snowy street.
And later that next evening, shoeless & breathing heavily in Don L's kitchen after executing countless Olympic worthy Sock Skating moves on the freshly buffed linoleum tiles, EuEarl & KC settled in to go for the Gold !
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"Sometimes, inappropriate fun is the MOST FUN!..."
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