Of course, Gerald knew roses. His mother loved them. Gerald kept his paper route until he was a sophomore in high school and one of the things he did ...ith his money was join the Rose of the Month Club so that he could plant roses for his mother. She was so sad after his father died. There were two bedraggled rose bushes in the back yard and in spite of their lack of care (and the number of times they’d kicked a football into them), his mother would sit at the kitchen table looking out into the. " "Wow mom, that's a big glass! Are you going to get drunk?" "Maybe. OK, I don't want you learning about making out from some street woman. I'm going to teach you, but you have to make me a promise, that you will never tell anyone, OK?" "I promise, Mom. I won't tell anyone. Thank you so much for this. I love you." "Well, I love you too honey, and I want to help. So, what do you want to know?" "Ummm, I'm not sure, exactly. I know when you make out there is first base, second base, third base,. " Shawna exaggerated.Abe exclaimed, "Damn, five for five? I wouldn't want go up against you that's for sure." For the record, I think Shawna got two on her own because the one hit I had was through the tailgate where the round took the guys leg off," I said trying to set them straight.Martin finally said something, "I'm sure glad Steve and Shawna were here, I was scared shitless. I got my piece and Glenda and I hunkered down in the bathroom hoping a stray round wouldn't come in." Let me look at. “Take care of yourself and those around you. Live the good life and don’t hate anyone,” the old man said. He took a sip of his root beer and looked over at the young man with fondness evident on his face. He added, “Life will throw some curves at you, but if you have a good foundation then you’ll get through the tough times.”“Good advice.”“Don’t forget that you have a family that will help you when things get too much for you,” the old man said. He took another sip of his root beer and watched.