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Lucy loved gymnastics, and gymnastics loved her back. She was state champion from the time she was eight until she graduated high school, and had a room full of trophies and medals.
Lucy’s just as flexible now, and she exercises every morning on her front lawn. She hocked her trophies after her third husband died and got the place just before the real estate crisis, so she’s sitting pretty. If things get any tougher, she plans to mail her medals to one of those “cash for old gold” places she keeps hearing about.
Angela didn’t much like Watley, and was mortified to have her picture taken during their first dance. But Watley’s dad owned the local country club, and drove a snazzy Rolls Royce, whereas Angela lived in a one bedroom apartment with her great aunt Rosa and wanted nothing more than to escape before her sixteenth birthday. And Watley was very persistent.
Here’s the happy couple today. After Watley’s parents died and left him the mansion, the country club, a yacht, and the Rolls, Angela’s affections grew stronger. By the time Watley dies, she’ll love him more than ever before. Watley, on the other hand, has spent most of his life regretting whatever urge ever nudged him in Angela’s general direction.
It was an afternoon Joey would never forget, the day he abandoned his dreams of becoming a mechanic and pretended to have found a live grenade in the back yard. His dad, recently back from Vietnam, noticed him for the first time in months. He laughed and grabbed the camera. Joey prepared to lob his weapon. “Go for it, son!” he heard his dad yell, jokingly.
Seconds after the light bulb’s flash Joey’s mom came outside and told him she’d whup his ass next time she caught him picking her tomatoes, and pretty soon his dad cracked another beer and returned to his football game. Meanwhile, Joey stayed out in the yard savoring his golden moment.
Here’s Joey last Tuesday. He couldn’t get into the Army like his dad, but he’s managed to meld his childhood love of throwing fresh food into his adult life. He has his own apartment, is saving up for a Hummer, and thinks these are the best years of his life. He’s probably right.
Back in the day there was nothing Meg loved like a rousing backyard barbecue. Hell, with six kids to raise and a husband who looked like Prince Charles, she didn’t have a lot to smile about, and used pretty much any family occasion as an excuse to get tanked.
And here’s Meg yesterday morning, spending a little down time with a few of her kids. She still loves a good buzz, and why shouldn’t she? “I’m what the real Mrs. Brady would have looked like,” she sometimes says near the end of the evening, then does a very lame Florence Henderson impression. After she passes out, her kids joke that she looks more like Alice.
Dino was usually a good-natured guy, but if you told him he was wearing his sister’s shirt and looked like he’d spent way too much time on his hair, he’d get really ugly in no time.
And here’s Dino just a couple of months ago, still getting pissed at anyone who doesn’t like his fashion sense or the way he smells. God forbid you say anything about his receding hairline, or the fact that he’s still snitching his sister’s clothes.
It was another typical dustbowl kind of day for Candy, and she decided to blow off steam via her usual take on drinking and driving, which had made her locally famous and pregnant twice before the end of ninth grade.
Then, through the mist, he emerged like a dream. Their paths crossed, like two un-driven ships in the night, and that would have been the end of it, except that Tad was so mesmerized, he got back in his car and followed Candy to her favorite juke joint.
And here are Tad and Candy today, still just a couple of hard-asses out having fun. When I told them they should have been more careful on the fateful day they met, this was their instantaneous reaction.
