And be loved!Many years passed. Cathy had died of kidney disease, his daughters had married and moved away to the north of England. A postcard from Ma...rion in the late eighties had put him on notice that he was now officially a grandfather. He had seen the lad but half a dozen times since, the last being when his daughter called in at the local hospital briefly following his triple-bypass.He was in his seventy-fourth year now and living alone in a shabby semi in Portsmouth, the area's solitude. I thought the tight skirts and over short dresses all looked stupid. It was the start of hunting season anyway.She put in about a year as a secretary, and then bingo she got her first promotion, head of the small secretarial pool. Did I say bingo? I meant to say bang. She was on her way! In no time one thing led to another and pretty soon she was managing their claims department. She’d even been moved past older more experienced employees. In fact her last promotion led to two of their longer. “What you been up to?”“Nothing much.”“You ain’t been up to nothing new since Frankie left? You two grew close before he left. Still playing baseball? Ain’t started college yet?”I shrugged. “Can’t start school until next January. And I really ain’t felt like playing baseball lately.”He stopped sifting through the bags and raised a thick dark eyebrow at me. “You miss him, don’t you?”“Yeah. Kinda.”He huffed. “Well if you miss him so much, come dig through his shit. See if you find something you. " What the hell are you talking about? Rebecca said...," Frank saidbewildered."Frank, let me put it this way, they didn't approve of your marriage toRebecca. They excommunicated you. That's why you don't have any oftheir photos," Joe said delicately."Wow, really? What's wrong with Rebecca?" Frank asked curiously."Not going to lie, she was a freak in college," Joe said."Like how many boyfriends did she have?" Frank wondered, his insecuritybuilding."Not boyfriends, girlfriends. She was a total.
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