Chapter 7
Pam had been nervous the entire evening.
From the very moment that she found out that her son was planning to go out with Daisy Barnes, she felt strange.
She had held Harold in such high regard that she didn't want him to ever become involved with anyone she thought to be in a"ny way his inferior. She definitely felt that Daisy Barnes fitted into that category.
Now she was sitting before the television set, watching the evening news and looking nervously at her watch. She realized now that it was past eleven, and she wondered just how much later it would be before her son arrived home.
She slowly sipped from the martini glass which she held in her fingers. She didn't generally drink a great deal, but on an occasion like this, she felt nervous. It bothered her that her son was out with Daisy, and she was angered by the fact that her husband Charles was not any more sympathetic to her concern than she would have liked.
Suddenly the door opened and Harold walked in.
"Harold, is that you?" Pam called out. "Yes, it is, Mom."
"Can you come in here for a minute?" "Sure thing."
"Oh, watching the news, huh?" Harold grinned, looking at the television set. "Have you heard any sports news? How did the Lakers make out tonight?"
"I haven't heard a thing," she said curtly. "Would you please shut that off?"
"How about leaving it on until the sports? I'd really like to know how the Lakers made out."
"And I'd really like to talk to you. Please shut it off. You can get all the results about the Lakers in the morning paper."
"O.K., O.K., " he shook his head, turning off the television set. "Why are you so uptight, Mom?"
"You're getting back kind of late, aren't you?"' "Hell, it's just a few minutes past eleven." "That's pretty late, everything considered. You do have to get up and go to school in the morning, you know."
"Sure, but I'm still in a position to get about eight hours of sleep."
"I frankly think you require a little more, considering the fact that you also have basketball practice."
"I get along o.k. on that."
"So you were out with Daisy," she said sarcastically, i
"Is that still bothering you?" he said irritably.
"And just why shouldn't it? I know quite a bit about that girl and her parents. It's not a wholesome atmosphere for you to be involved in."
"Look, Mom, I'm a young man now and I'm able to look after myself."
"You're not an adult by any yardstick," she advised quickly. "I'm beginning to wonder if you're as able to look out for yourself as I thought you might. I don't like some of your tendencies."
"like what?"
"like the company you keep. There are so many more nice girls around that you should be dating. I could suggest a few without any trouble."
"But it's not your responsibility to pick girls for me to go out with, Mom. That wouldn't be right at all. It is strictly up to me to select the girls."
"O.K., I can buy that point. But when your selections aren't any better than they have been, I don't know."
"I don't like the way you're knocking Daisy," he came on aggressively.
"And just why shouldn't I knock her? You are a young man who has a lot of potential. You're good in the classroom and you're very good on the basketball court. You've got many chances for success, but not when you're going with somebody like that."
"Where's Dad?"
"He went to bed a few minutes ago. But don't change the subject."
"You see, if he was all shook up, he wouldn't have gone to bed. He's not as shook up about this as you are."
"No, you're right about that," she said. "And that's what bothers me. He's about as blase on this whole thing as you are, and it just isn't right. I could see through this whole situation so clearly, but you can't and neither can your father. Just because this is a young, pretty girl, you're getting bowled over to the point where you aren't able to recognize the realities of the situation. Just because she's good looking and has a beautiful figure doesn't mean that she's the right type of girl for you to be involved with."
"Just what's wrong with me getting involved with her? I think she's an awfully sweet gal."
"You might think she's sweet, but I think she's downright cheap."
"That's a helluva thing to say," he snapped.
"Don't talk to your mother that way."
"I don't like what you're saying about Daisy."
"Oh, poor Daisy," Pam glared at him. "I'm sure that I'm injuring her character. It isn't very virtuous, my dear, I'm sure."
"You're just going on what a bunch of old bags have been telling you. Those women in the club."
"Don't call my friends at the club old bags," Pam warned. "They happen to be decent women who don't like people who cheapen themselves. Well, Daisy has cheapened herself, and I guess it runs in the family."
"I don't want to hear anything more about this, I told you that I like her, Mom, and that's all I'm going to say. I really don't have to say anything more."
"Don't walk out on me like that."
"But it makes me angry to hear you talk about her that way."
"My, but you're getting touchy."
"I get touchy When I hear somebody talking that way about somebody I happen to like."
"Just how intimately involved have you been with this girl?" Pam asked.
"I don't need to answer that."
"This is your mother asking."
"I still don't need to answer it. That isn't a nice question to ask."
"It's a very relevant one."
"I don't want to talk about any of this anymore," he snapped, walking away.
"I'm disappointed in you, disappointed greatly, Harold," she shouted.
She heard the door of his bedroom slam shut. Pam knew that he was extremely angry.
She was still shaken as she walked to her bedroom.
"What was all the noise about, dear?" her husband asked as he lay comfortably in bed reading the latest edition of "Fortune" magazine.
"I was having an argument with your son about a subject that I'm concerned about and you don't seem to care one iota about."
"What was that?" he put the magazine down and asked calmly with a smile.
"That little slut Daisy Barnes."
"Hold on now, dear. You've really got no right to call that girl a slut."
"I've got every right to. She's got our son buffaloed."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because I've been trying to point out to him how bad she is for him, but he just doesn't seem to want to listen."
"Well, he's probably like me. He figures you haven't established a good enough case. Just give him a chance to get acquainted with her. If she's that bad, he'll be the first one to discover it. If she's not, well, that's something else again."
"You're as impossible to talk to as he is," she shook her head.
"What's getting into you, honey?"
"I told you all about how bad she is. Certainly you're going to take your wife's word for it."
"I can take your word for it, honey, but you're basing all this on what some of your friends have been saying about her."
"O.K., O.K., that's all you've been saying," she said, getting ready to climb into bed.
"It happens to be the truth. Just give our son a chance to work out his own problems. He's a young man now. I have a lot of confidence in him."
"I did have a great deal of confidence in him," Pam said sadly, "but I'm losing it more and more all the time."
"I think you're judging much too harshly, and prematurely, dear."
"O.K., that's your opinion," she said.
Pam climbed into bed and turned off the light.
"Goodnight, dear," Charles said.
"Goodnight," she said glumly.
It bothered her a good deal that Charles wasn't any more concerned about the matter than he appeared to be.
After a good night's sleep, Pam got up the following morning feeling almost as frustrated as she had the evening before.
She had hardly said a word to either Harold or Charles at the breakfast table, and after Harold left for school, she immediately called up a good friend of hers, Betty Stevens, since she felt the abiding need to talk to someone.
"Betty, how are you doing?" she began.
"Oh, is that you, Pam?"
"Yes, it is."
"Good to hear from you. What's up?"
"Just wondered if you might like to have lunch with me this afternoon."
"Let me see what's on. I was thinking that I had a club meeting. No, that's tomorrow. Sure, where would you like to go?"
"Oh, the Queens Arms is fine with me."
"O:K., and what time?"
"Would two o'clock be o.k.? "
"Yeah, that would be fine."
"See you then." "Goodbye now."
She arrived a few minutes before two. When she didn't observe Betty nearby, Pam walked into the bar and had a drink.
Just as she was finishing the drink, she observed Betty making her way inside the darkened restaurant.
"Hello," Betty said. "How's my favorite club woman?"
"Oh, just fine. Let's have ourselves something to eat."
"Fine with me. I'm famished. You know, I've been on a diet," Betty smiled.
"You don't look like you need to go on any diet to me."
"Very sweet of you, my dear, but I know better," Betty laughed. "My husband has been anything but subtle in telling me that I could afford to shed a few pounds, and the longer I spent looking at myself in the mirror, the more I had to conclude he was right. But I've been toeing the mark quite well now in the last few weeks, so I think maybe I can let myself go today."
"It does look like you've lost a little weight," Pam said. "You look very becoming." "Thank you, but I'll never look as good as you,"
Betty laughed. "Go on now."
"I mean it. My two sons say that you've got a better figure than any of the girls at school."
"I love them both for saying that, though I'm sure it's not true," Pam laughed.
"You do look great."
"Well, I've got the swimming pool, and I'm able to use it quite a bit. That holds the weight down, I guess."
"Perhaps, but you have plenty of good equipment to work with, in the beginning," Betty laughed.
They helped themselves to a plateful of various delicacies in the buffet-styled atmosphere, then took their seats.
As they ate, Betty began to talk about the club that they both belonged to.
Pam patiently discussed club matters with Betty. But she really wanted to talk to her about something else, a problem that was grating on her nerves to a tremendous degree.
"Weren't you telling me about knowing Gladys Barnes?" she asked Betty.
"Yes, I know both Gladys and her husband, Ted. But why spoil a perfectly good meal by bringing them up?"
"Are they all that bad?"
"They're worse," she shook her head. "He spends most of his afternoons playing the horses and his evenings getting drunk."
"Then how do they manage to live?" Pam asked curiously.
"They don't. They survive. And often they don't do a very good job of that."
"But certainly he's got to have some source of income."
"He does. Didn't I tell you what he did?"
"No, I just believed you said something about them being a sordid pair, or something like that."
"I certainly did. So I didn't tell you what he does."
"No, but now you've really got my curiosity. What does he do?"
"Oh, he works as a private detective. That is, when he works. He doesn't do it all that often."
"Then that's why they just manage to survive."
"That and his horse playing. Along with the way that they both drink. But he does the most sordid type of detection work. He's always tracking down husbands and wives in divorce cases. And many times he's gotten intimate with the women. I guess that when they were a little short on cash, he felt compelled to collect his rewards for services rendered another way."
"He does sound like some kind of character,"
Pam shook her head.
"Yes, he is. But I hope you don't want me to introduce him to you."
"Heavens no. How do you know them?"
"They live near me. Daisy has tried for a long time to get acquainted with me, and she's always trying to tell me her troubles. But I shy away as best I can. Why are you so curious about them? I mean, there are a lot more pleasant topics to discuss."
"I guess I might as well level with you," Pam sighed. "It's not a very pleasant admission to have to make, but my son Harold has been dating Daisy."
"Oh, the daughter," Betty nodded. "I don't suppose you're very happy about that." "I'm furious."
"She's a very good looking girl, but I've heard she's on the cheap side. I can't say I'd be all that surprised, because the parents certainly haven't afforded her any kind of a good example."
"No, I guess they haven't."
"Did you talk to Harold about this?"
"I told him that I didn't think that she was a good person for him to be dating."
"How did he react to that?"
"He got mad at me."
"Just the kind of reaction I expected from a strong willed young man," she nodded.
"I'll be perfectly frank with you. You've taken this a whole lot more calmly than I thought you would."
"I know the way that young men are," Betty replied. "You see, she is very good looking and a lot of the boys like her. But I wouldn't get all that upset. I think that he will just have a little fun with her, and that will be the extent of it."
"I don't want him to get deeply involved. I know how these things go, Betty. They start out harmlessly enough, but pretty soon they begin to build to a crisis point."
"Oh, I do think that this relationship will end before it gets to that point. After he's had an opportunity to date her a bit, I think that hell get bored with her."
"You really think so?"
"Yes, I really do," Betty said. "You've got to remember something about the younger generation. They don't want to be told a thing when they get to the age that Harold is. They want to be able to figure things out for themselves. I think that that young man of yours has a very good head on his shoulders, and he'll see the light in time."
"You sound very much like my husband. That's the way he was talking."
"Certainly. Charles is a sensible man, and he could see these things. I wouldn't get upset at all about any of this."
"O.K., perhaps you're right."
"Sure I am, dear. Don't worry about it"
"Maybe I have been playing the role of a doting mother," Pam laughed. "I noticed Harold didn't appreciate what he interpreted as prying on my part. Maybe I did go a little too far."
"Just relax, honey, that's the best thing," Betty smiled reassuringly.
"I suppose you're right."
As Pam got back to eating her food, she felt a little better about matters.
Pam felt that she had done the right thing by calling up her old friend Betty Stevens and having a heart to heart chat with her. Now she was already feeling a good deal better than she was previously.