Seventy Times Seven by Sapienza Salvatore

Author:Sapienza, Salvatore [Sapienza, Salvatore]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2013-01-11T06:00:00+00:00

“

H

ey, Golden Girls is on,” Gabe shouted from the kitchen as he opened the refrigerator door. I was on the futon channel surfing while T’Pau was asleep at my feet.

Gabe returned with two more beers and took a seat next to me on the futon. “Sorry, no light beers,” he said, as he reached over and patted my stomach. “Don’t worry. You got a long way until you get one of these.” He lifted up his t-shirt and stuck out his hairy belly. Gabe’s stomach was not ripped, but was built solid. Then he reached over to my lap to grab the remote.

“Back in New York, one of the bars plays a Golden Girls drinking game on Saturday nights,” I said. “Every time Rose tells a Saint Olaf story or Sophia tells a story about Sicily, everyone does a shot.”

“By the end of the half hour, everyone must be wasted,” Gabe laughed.

175

“My friend Tim also added a new rule,” I said. “Every time they flash back to a scene from a previous episode, you must also do a shot.”

“Yeah,” Gabe said, “I noticed that they do a lot of those clip shows.

Why do you think that is?”

“I think they’re all too old to work those long hours,” I said. “You

know how they have child labor laws? They must have something

like that for seniors, too.”

“You really put people in boxes, don’t you?” Gabe said. “I mean

rednecks being illiterate, older folks being like children.” I hit him playfully in the head with the TV guide you get free

with the Sunday paper. “You know I’m just joking when I say those

things,” I said.

“Like when you said I was smelly?” he asked.

“Now that I was serious about,” I said. “Put on the show. We just

missed like the first five minutes.” Gabe flipped over to NBC. “Oh, wait, this is a repeat,” Gabe said. “This is a very special

episode where Rose thinks she has AIDS.”

“I haven’t seen it, but I know she’s not going to have it,” I said. “If

the networks were really bold they’d make her have it, and then show

the reality of someone living with the virus. Of course, that’ll never

happen on a sitcom. AIDS and funny don’t mix.”

“There’s a lot of laughter at the Center,” Gabe said. “I think that’s

what I like most about spending time there. Just hearing the guys

laugh. You’re really good with them by the way.”

“I like that there’s no bullshit, you know?” I said. “People who are

dying cut through all the meaningless crap polite folks are expected to

say and do. There’s no pretense. Teenagers are like that, too. It’s one of

the things I like best about being a brother.”

“Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that,” said Gabe. “Do you mind

if I turn this off?”

“No, not at all,” I said. “I’m sure we can catch portions of it next

week on another one of their flashback episodes. You know, they’ll

be sitting around the kitchen table eating cheesecake and reminiscing

about the time Rose had AIDS.” Gabe turned off the television. “What

did you want to ask me about?”

“Just the whole brother thing,” Gabe said.

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