Secrets 2: Looking Through Different Eyes - 32. Chapter 32 S2

Chapter 32 – Gramps, Pops, and Barry

Devin and I talked it over on Sunday and decided that we didn’t want Barry to end up sitting alone at the next game, so we drove over to his apartment to make sure that he was going to sit with us. We weren’t sure how Jer was reacting to Barry making him take Brock and Art back to the dorms sooner than he wanted to leave, so it’s possible that Jer isn’t planning on sitting with Barry either. In that case, we wanted to make sure Barry was planning to join us.

“Hey, guys. I didn’t expect you to come back here today,” Barry said when he came to the door. “Did you forget something?”

“Kind of,” Devin replied. “We forgot to make sure you were going to sit with us at Saturday’s game.”

“I was going to sit with Jer, but we can all sit together.”

“Great!” I responded. “We weren’t sure how Jer had reacted to you making him leave early so he could drive Brock and Art back to the dorms and we didn’t want you to end up sitting alone. We were also worried that Art and Brock might show up at the game and create a scene about what happened yesterday, and we wanted to be there if that happened.”

“I don’t think they’ll do that, but we can still sit together at the game.”

“So, you don’t think they’ll come back to apologize and beg you to forgive them?” Devin asked.

“They might, but I’ll just tell them to get lost. I warned them when they came to watch the Colorado game with me that I don’t like to hang around with drunks. I also told them that I wasn’t going to take the chance of them messing up my apartment or breaking things, so if they were going to drink a lot they needed to do it somewhere else.”

“Then they should have known how you felt,” I stated.

“That’s right, and I know I don’t have to worry about you two, but Art and Brock split a 12-pack at the Colorado game and were kind of tipsy before the game ended, but not totally drunk. I warned them they were pushing it and I was beginning to worry that they might become a problem during future games when they came to my place to watch the away games. They knew how I felt, so they shouldn’t expect me to forgive them.”

“I can’t believe they ignored your warning and showed up at your apartment drunk and then drank some more, so they brought what happened on themselves.”

“Yes, they should have heeded my warning, but they didn’t, and I should have made Jer take them back to their dorms then, but I didn’t want Jer to miss any of the game because of them. Even so, I probably should have taken the 12-pack away from them until they sobered up. That was my mistake and I won’t make it again.”

“You also warned us before that you didn’t like guys to get drunk when they came to your apartment, and we made sure we didn’t do that. We were just afraid that if Brock and Art came to the game and tried to apologize and you didn’t accept it, then they might create a scene at the game.”

“I’m not worried about it, since I’ll be watching the game with my two bodyguards. You’ve both proven to me that you can take care of yourselves, so I trust you’ll be able to protect me as well.”

“We’ll definitely do that.”

“Great! Then I’ll meet you at the student gate around 4:30.”

“Maybe it would be best if you drove over to the house we’re staying at and you can park your car there and then we’ll walk to the stadium together.”

“Ok, that’s fine with me,” Barry agreed. “So I’ll be there around 4:15, to allow us plenty of time to walk to the stadium.”

We gave him the address of the house, and once that was taken care of, we drove back to the house and continued getting ready for the week ahead.

The next few days were hectic! There was a lot to focus on in our classes and we spent a great deal of time finishing assignments and catching up on the reading in our free time. We were totally beat by the time classes ended on Friday as we stopped at the dining hall to grab a bite to eat before going back to the house. We even decided to turn in early that night, hoping we’d feel better the next day.

Barry showed up at the house at the agreed time and we had him park his car in the driveway before we walked over to the stadium to watch the game. Shortly after we took our seats, Jer showed up and joined us, and a little while after that we saw Art and Brock staring at us from a distance. They looked as if they wanted to come over to talk to Barry, but were hesitant to do so because we were sitting with him, and eventually they disappeared.

The first half of the game was very exciting. CSU jumped out to an early lead, but then Utah Tech roared back and CSU was only leading 21-17 at the intermission. After talking it over with the others, we decided to get something to eat and drink from the concession stand, because we were all a little hungry.

“Tell you what,” Devin began. “It will be my treat, so just tell us what you want to drink. There’s no sense in all of us going there.”

“Are you sure?” Barry responded.

“Yes, I can afford to do it this time.”

After Barry and Jer told us what they wanted to drink, Devin and I went to the concession stand to get everything. The stand was quite crowded, so we had to wait in line, and then they put our order in two cardboard trays and we carried everything back to our seats. When we got there, we saw Art and Brock talking to Jer, and Barry didn’t look very happy that they were there. We approached the area cautiously, since our hands were full with the items that we’d just purchased.

“Ok, we’ve got the things you wanted,” I stated as we got closer to where we were sitting. Art and Brock turned to glance at us, and each of them had a menacing expression on their face. I was hoping they weren’t going to try anything, since it would be difficult for us to defend ourselves, but they just quickly walked away.

“What was that all about?” I asked as we sat down and handed Barry and Jerome their drinks. We’d also purchased a hot dog and slice of pizza for each of us.

“You were right,” Barry replied, “and they came over to speak with us, but it wasn’t exactly an apology. They didn’t appear drunk, but it certainly smelled as if they’d been drinking, and they merely said hi and told us that they were sitting with some of their other friends, which is probably for the best. And even though I saw them staring at us earlier, they asked who we were sitting with, and that was just about the time when you came back.”

“So, they came over to talk, but didn’t apologize,” Devin stated.

“Yes, that’s exactly what they did, but it seemed they really came over to talk to Jer, so I didn’t tell them to get lost. They only said hi to me and then turned all of their attention on Jer.”

“I’m sure they knew you weren’t very happy about the way they acted at last week’s game,” I stated.

“Yeah, that’s the way it appeared.” Jer agreed.

We then ate our hot dogs and pizza and drank our drinks as the second half got underway. Utah Tech pulled to within a point midway through the third quarter, but then CSU took over and never looked back. We ended up winning the game by a score of 41-20.

As soon as we exited the stadium, we said goodbye to Jer, and he thanked us again for buying the refreshments at halftime again before heading to his dorm. The rest of us walked back to the house, and when we got there, we invited Barry inside so he could see what the house was like.

“It’s an older home that’s been in my family for over a hundred years,” Devin explained, “but it’s been renovated several times and we like living here.”

“I can definitely see the features that indicate what this place probably looked like back when it was first built,” Barry stated as we were giving him a tour. “But you also have a fairly modern kitchen and a very roomy and modern bathroom.”

“And a modern heating system,” Devin added.

“Do you two live here all alone?”

“Most of the time, but Gramps and Pops stay here when they come to the games with us, and our parents stay here when they come to visit. The only bad thing is the next door neighbor.”

“Why? What does your neighbor do?”

“She gives us shit every time we see her and she’s always complaining about stuff.”

“And I think she’s definitely keeping an eye on this place, because we’ve seen her staring out the second floor windows at the house.”

“I hate nosy neighbors,” Barry concurred. “We’ve got a nosy old lady that lives in the house across the street from where I live with my parents. And I’ll bet she even keeps a list of the people that visit us.”

“Does your neighbor live alone, like our neighbor?” Devin asked.

“Yeah, after her husband died, but she did the same kind of things when I was six, and her husband was alive back then. She’s only been alone for about eight years. My parents know she’s probably lonely, and they most likely would have invited her over for a meal from time to time, if she wasn’t such a busybody. And she’s always on the phone, probably telling whomever she’s talking to about everything that’s going on.”

“Yeah, they become their own worst enemy,” Devin stated. “I don’t believe our neighbor has ever been married, though. I think she lived there with her father and has been alone since he passed away. I have no idea how long ago that happened, but I’ll ask Gramps and Pops when they’re here, because I think they knew her dad.”

“And they’ll be here for the next home game, right?” Barry asked.

“Yeah, they will.”

“I really like being around them and think they’re a lot of fun. They’re not what you would expect from someone their age, though. They seem to be more active and they also talk about things that guys our age are interested in.”

“Yes, they’ve kept in pretty good shape,” Devin agreed, “and they keep up to date with other things as well. That’s why we enjoy their visits and like to spend time with them. Like I told you before, they’ll be here for the Boise State game.”

“That’s great, because I want to ask them about how they dealt with the guys with the guns that tried to rob you at the Colorado game. I know you told me about it, but I want to hear what they have to say about how they did it.”

He was right. Gramps and Pops will probably tell a more fascinating story about what happened.

“Then you won’t have long to wait and I’m sure they’ll even be happy to demonstrate it for you.”

Barry asked what I meant by that, so I told him he’d see when they were here. We talked a little while longer, and then he said goodbye and drove back to his apartment.

“I’m glad Barry feels that way about Gramps and Pops,” Devin said. “It makes it less awkward when they want to come to attend a football game with us. I hope Jer feels the same way Barry does.”

“I guess we’ll find out on Saturday.”

Since the hot dog and slice of pizza hadn’t filled us up, Devin and I decided to make a trip to Dominick’s for something more to eat. It looked pretty busy when we pulled into the parking lot and we were lucky someone was leaving so we could take their parking spot. There was also a line of people waiting for a table, and when we went inside to add our name to the waiting list, we got a surprise.

“Mr. McCaskill, you’re right on time,” the maitre d greeted Devin, and then he glanced at the chart he held in his hand. “The table you reserved is waiting for you,” he added, before he led us to a table for two.

We almost felt guilty that we were passing by the others who’d been waiting in line, but Devin’s family’s reputation for patronizing this place was obviously paying off. And it didn’t hurt that they were good tippers as well.

The maitre d directed us to our seats, gave each of us a menu, and our waiter appeared shortly thereafter. We both ordered the same appetizer, which consisted of various meats: prosciutto, mortadella, and salami, along with different types of cheeses and marinated artichokes and red peppers. We were also given a basket with half a loaf of sliced baguette bread, along with our drinks.

While we were eating our appetizer, the manager came over to greet us, and he quickly asked a question. “Recently we had a customer that told us he’d been directed here by a young man. Was that you?”

“Actually, it was Mac, but how did you know?”

“When I asked the gentleman what he could tell me about the young man, since I wondered if I knew him, he said the young man was in an older model SUV at the time, and right away I thought of you.”

“But what was the reason he brought it up in the first place. I’d normally assumed that he’d just come here and eat and never say a word about running into us.”

“It happened after he finished his meal. That’s when he revealed he was from the Food Network and he was traveling around the country and going to college tows looking for local restaurants for a series they’re planning. He explained they’re looking for hidden gems that didn’t normally receive a lot of attention and asked if our restaurant would be interested in appearing on that series. Of course I said ‘yes’, so we’re going to be on national TV and it’s all thanks to you.”

“Well, you’ve always treated Devin’s family very well, so we’re glad we could return the favor. Is that why we got V.I.P. treatment when we went to add our name to the waiting list?”

“Yes, the entire staff is very excited about this, and after I told them that I suspected you were the one who directed the man here, of course they want to do everything they can to repay you for doing it.”

“It was definitely our pleasure,” I said, and he thanked us once again before he left to chat with his other customers.”

Our main course was delivered a short time after he walked away, and we had each chosen a small order of pumpkin and sage baked gnocchi (pronounced NYOW-kee). It’s a pasta made from mashed potatoes, flour, and eggs, and it was very tasty and quite filling.

As we were eating, it seemed as if every employee stopped by our table at one time or another. Most just said hello and that it was nice to see us again, and even though they had also done this in the past, we now understood there might have been an additional reason for them doing it this time.

When we were done with the main course, our waiter offered a suggestion. “I don’t mention this item to all of our customers, but since you are among our most favorite diners, you might like to try some of our homemade strawberry gelato. I tasted it earlier and it’s simply delicious.”

For those who are unfamiliar with this item, gelato is an Italian treat that is a richer and thicker type of ice cream than the typical American variety. We thought it sounded good, so we had that as well, and we quickly discovered that our waiter was correct – it was absolutely delicious.

We may have been hungry when we first arrived here, but now we were totally stuffed. It was a truly fantastic meal and everyone made us feel like we were part of their family.

When we arrived back at the house, I got out my laptop and started playing some songs that I’d stored there, and it quickly set the mood. Devin and I then sat on the couch so we could cuddle, and then we began to kiss. I could almost taste the strawberry gelato on his lips when they met, and then he stuck his tongue into my mouth. Needless to say, it didn’t take long before our kissing became more erotic, as we moved on to other parts of the body, starting with the neck and then the chest. Before long, the bulges in our pants were beyond noticeable, so we decided to move to the bedroom.

We were still pumped up from CSU winning the football game, and when combined with our previous actions, we were more than ready to make love. We didn’t rush into it, however, and continued where we left off downstairs, and by the time we finished exploring each other’s body with our mouths, we took turns making love. Nearly an hour and a half had passed by the time we had both satisfied our desires, so we decided it was time to shower and then go to sleep. When we finally got into bed, Devin spooned behind me with his hand over my chest, and I placed my arm over his as we held each other tight.

We spent most of Sunday studying and finishing assignments that were due early in the week, and we did this until we stopped for lunch. As we were eating at the dining hall, we noticed the cutout pumpkins that were hanging on the walls as decorations and realized it was the first day of October. After talking about it briefly, we decided to go for a drive after walking back to the house so we could pick up some donuts and cider. We felt we could nosh on the donuts later and wash them down with the cider while we continued to study.

The rest of the day and the entire week were filled with going to classes, completing assignments, and catching up on our reading, so we were thrilled when Friday arrived. If would give us time to rest up before we went to watch the away football game with Barry the following day, and we felt Jerome would probably be there as well.

Unfortunately, the game didn’t turn out to be as much fun as we hoped, because CSU was beaten badly by Utah State and lost the contest by a score of 24-44. There wasn’t as much pizza leftover either, since Barry had only ordered two pizzas for the four of us, however, there were a few slices remaining and Barry gave them to us. He also gave us part of the vegetable tray and dips, along with the partial bags of potato chips and pretzels that remained. And then before we left, we reminded Barry and Jer that Gramps and Pops would be arriving to watch next week’s home game with Boise State, so Jer would be aware of this fact as well.

The following week was just as demanding as the previous week, and we were mentally beat by the time our last classes ended on Friday. However, we got our second wind when we remembered that Pops and Gramps would be arriving soon, because it meant they’d be taking us out to eat.

When they arrived, we chatted with them briefly, and then they went to freshen up while Devin and I changed to go to Dominick’s to eat. As always, the owner and staff treated us like royalty when we arrived, and they were very attentive as we ate. And while we were eating, we talked about the team and discussed our expectations for how the team would do.

“They may be 2-3 right now,” Gramps stated, “but if they’d won that double-overtime game against Colorado, they’d be 3-2 instead.”

“Yeah, but their other two losses were total blowouts,” Devin and I pointed out.

“Then let’s wait and see which CSU team shows up tomorrow. I’m not sure why, but I’m expecting an exciting and very close game,”

“And Barry will be joining us, along with his friend Jerome.”

“We both like Barry,” Pops said. “He’s a very nice young man.”

“Have we met Jerome before?” Gramps asked.

“Yeah, Jer was one of the other guys that always came with Barry last year.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Gramps agreed, “it’s just that we always thought Jer was short for Jerry or Gerald. We didn’t consider it might be short for Jerome.”

“Yeah, I guess we must’ve never used his full first name around you guys last year,” Devin stated. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s not a big deal, but at least now we know who you’re talking about.”

“Oh, and there’s something we meant to ask you. How long ago did Louella Haskins father die?”

“Why do you want to know that?” Pops asked.

“It just came up in a discussion that we were having with Barry.”

“I’m not sure why he would want to know, but let me think. It must have been seventeen years ago.”

“Wow, we didn’t realize that she’s been living there alone for so long.”

“Yes, and we’re surprised she hasn’t sold the place and moved into an apartment, because I’m sure that living in that big house must be a lot of work for her,” Gramps added. “Just cleaning that place would take a lot of time, and then there are all the little repairs that keep coming up in older homes.”

“Yeah, you guys would know about that, since you have the house here.”

After we finished eating and returned to the house, we decided to turn in, since we were all tired. “But I suppose you two are planning to have sex first,” Pops teased.

“Not tonight,” Devin replied. “It’s been an exhausting week and we need our sleep more than having sex.”

“Then it must have been a VERY exhausting week!” Pop shot back with a huge grin.

After he said that, we all went up to our rooms, and tonight I spooned behind Devin and held him tight until we woke up the next morning.

After we woke up, we used the toilet and took a quick shower before rinsing our mouths with mouthwash, so we didn’t have morning breath. We then returned to our room and put on clean underwear, but we donned the same cloths we were wearing the night before. That’s because we hadn’t worn them for very long and knew we’d be changing again later for the game. And, as we figured, Gramps and Pops were going to take us out for Breakfast.

“Do you guys want to go to the dog park after we eat?” I asked.

“No, let’s wait until tomorrow, and then we’ll go out to the hunting lodge where we can all run together.”

No one had a problem with that suggestion, so we went out and got into their SUV for the ride to the restaurant. The first place they went to was packed with people, which made Devin remember something.

“Oh shit, I forgot!” he whined. “This is Homecoming and Family Weekend.”

“That’s ok,” Gramps replied, “we know plenty of restaurants, including a few that I doubt the parents will be going to with their kids.”

Actually, it was another restaurant that Devin and I had been to before, although it was farther away from the house, and after we’d ordered, we chatted as we waited for the food to be delivered.

“I’m sorry I forgot about this being Homecoming and Family Weekend,” Devin apologized.

“Well, we are your family,” Pops pointed out, “and it should mean there will be a bigger crowd at the game, and with the players’ families cheering them on, the team might have their best game yet.”

“Let’s hope so.” I concurred.

“Do you want to go to the parade too?” Devin asked.

“Sure, but let’s change into the clothes we’re going to wear at the game first, and then we’ll go watch the parade. I’m curious to see if things have changed very much over the years.”

“So you haven’t gone to the Homecoming parade in a while?”

“Not since Jacob went to college here.”

“Damn, that must have been at least fifty years ago.”

“Yes, something like that.”

When we came out of the house after changing, we ran into our neighbor and we were surprised to see her walking a dog. It was one of those yappy small dogs, a Yorkshire Terrler, and it started barking as soon as it saw us. However, it stopped barking long enough to sniff around Devin and me, but not Gramps and Pops, and Louella started talking.

“Ah, so the older gentlemen are here this weekend,” she observed.

“Yes, Louella, and in case you’ve forgotten, I’m Aaron and this is Jacob. We’re here for Family Weekend and to watch the football game with the boys. And we didn’t know you had a dog.”

“I don’t, but I’m watching this one for one of the girls that works in the office. She mentioned that she was going out of town and couldn’t take the dog with her. She asked if I would watch it, since no one else could. I really didn’t want to, but seeing she was in a bind and since it was only for the weekend, I agreed. I’ll be glad when I can give the dog back to her, though, because it barks way too much.”

“Yes, those types of dogs do, but it’s very nice of you to watch it for your friend.”

“Thank you, and she’s not really a friend, just a co-worker. And it’s nice to see you again,” she said, and then she tugged on the leash and headed home with the mutt.

“Wow, she’s nice when talking to you, but she’s always giving us shit,” Devin stated.

“Well, have you been nice to her?”

“Yes! We tried to be nice to her at first,” I replied, “but she still gave us shit, so Devin started giving shit back to her.”

“Why? What did she do now?”

“When she saw that we came back in August, she said something like, “Oh, you two are back again. I was hoping you’d graduated’,” Devin replied.

“And then Devin said, ‘and we were hoping you had died.”

Both Gramps and Pops smirked when they first heard what Devin had said, and the smirk turned into a scowl. “Devin, we thought you’d been raised better than that. No wonder she gives you shit.”

“I didn’t start doing that until she’d said other things like that. She even complains if she saw any dogs or cats in our backyard, and we don’t ever go out there. We think she’s just seeing squirrels and thinks they’re dogs and cats.”

“And didn’t you guys go out there and try to upset her by pretending to be dogs and cats?” I pointed out.

“Ok, so we did that too,” Pops relented, “but she didn’t know it was us. However, she definitely knew it was Devin making that rude comment.”

“So, I guess we haven’t set a very good example for you boys,” Gramps added.

“I think you’ve been a great example for us,” Devin countered, “but I think it’s also a good thing that we don’t roll over and take shit from other people.”

“Ok, but don’t aggravate her too badly,” Pops urged. “You’ll be leaving here after you graduate, but we’ll still own the house and will be using it from time to time, and possibly you’ll be with us.”

“Yeah, we might want to come back here with you to watch a couple of football games each year, especially homecoming weekend, just to piss her off.”

“We’d hope you’d be doing those things because you enjoyed being with us, not just to piss off Louella Haskins,” Gramps responded.

“Of course we’d be doing it because we enjoy spending time with you guys. It’s just a bonus that we get to piss off Louella as well.”

We now turned our attention to the homecoming parade. It was basically the same as every other homecoming parade that we’d attended, but Gramps and Pops made a different observation.

“The floats aren’t the same quality as they were 50 years ago,” Pops stated. “The students don’t seem to be putting the same amount of effort into making them.”

“Or showing the same pride in them,” Gramps added. “When I was going here, the members of my class would have been embarrassed to see one of their floats looking like this in the parade.”

“I agree,” Pops concurred. “Back then constructing a homecoming float was a big social event and the group putting it together took a great deal of pride in what they were doing. These floats look as if they were thrown together at the last minute.”

“Maybe not the last minute,” I countered, “but 50 years ago the groups putting them together didn’t have to compete with social media and cell phones.”

“That’s very true,” Gramps agreed. “Back then everyone came together to do things like this so they could catch up with their friends about a lot of other things at the same time. Now, young people your age do that by using their cell phones or getting on social media instead.”

“I suspect that’s why a lot of alumni don’t return for homecoming,” Pops stated. “Some of them used to take their vacations so they could make their own floats for the parade, and at the same time catch up with their old classmates, but now they can do it on social media instead.”

“Yes, that’s very true,” Gramps agreed. “I would guess that many graduating classes maintain a group page on Facebook where class members can share significant information. I imagine it would include such things as promotions, new jobs, marriages, new homes, and the birth of children. There’s no need for them to return for homecoming to find out how others in their graduating class are doing.”

As soon as the parade ended, and the Homecoming King and Queen had been chosen, we began making our way over to the stadium to find Barry. He was alone when we spotted him.

“Where’s Jer?” we asked.

“He’s with his parents. They decided to come for Family Weekend this year, since it will be the last one before he graduates.”

“Didn’t he know that?”

“No, they didn’t make up their minds until this past week. It seems that his dad had a big business deal going, but it wrapped up Monday and his parents called him on Tuesday to tell him they were going to be coming.”

“Then I’ll bet they’ll have trouble getting a room at a local hotel or a reservation to have a family dinner,” I commented.

“They may have to drive to Laporte, Wellington, or Windsor, but those places are all within 15 miles of Fort Collins,” Gramps stated. “They shouldn’t have to travel as far as Boulder or Denver, unless that’s what they want to do.”

“Ok, I guess that’s not too bad then.”

Barry made sure he was sitting with Devin and me on his right side and Gramps and Pops on his left, and we soon found out why.

“When Devin and Mike told me about what happened to you guys after the Colorado game, I’ve been waiting to see what you two had to say about what had happened that night.”

“It’s probably the same as what they told you,” Gramps replied.

“Yeah, but you two were facing the guys with the guns, so how did you manage to get the guns away from them.”

“We didn’t actually take the guns away from them. We just made them drop the guns.”

“And how did you do that?”

“Ok, I guess the best way to explain is to demonstrate what we did. Let’s stand up and you can be one of the robbers. When we didn’t do what they wanted, they moved closer and put the barrel of their guns against our chests. Use you hand for the gun and I’ll show you what we did.”

They stood facing each other, with Barry using his hand as the gun and placing his index finger against Gramps chest.

“I merely took my wallet out and held it up in front of the thief’s eyes, knowing he would try to take it, and when he did, I did this,” he added as he turned his body slightly.

“Holy fuck, that hurts,” Barry wailed as Gramps dug his thumb against the medial nerve in Barry’s ‘gun’ hand.

“Now you know how we got them to drop their guns,” Gramps said with a slight grin as they both sat down again.

“How the fuck did you know how to do that?”

“When we were teens, we lived next door to a guy who’d been a Navy S.E.A.L. and he showed us the various tricks he’d learned about hand-to-hand combat, and that was one of them.”

“But what made it so painful?”

“If you examine the area above your wrist, you’ll find a space between the two bones in your arm where they meet at the hand. There is a nerve that runs in the space between those bones, and all we did was to dig our thumbs into that area until it put pressure on the nerve. That’s what caused you to instinctively open your hand and what caused the robbers to drop their guns. We just kept pressure on that area to keep them from trying to retrieve their guns or escape. Mac, I mean Mike, stopped the guy with the metal pipe and Devin took care of the guy with the bat.”

“Man, you guys are amazing, and thanks for showing me about this.”

Shortly after they’d finished doing that, the game started, and Boise kept CSU scoreless in the first half while scoring 17 points. However, CSU came to life in the 3^rd quarter and pulled to within a touchdown as the quarter ended. Then, in the 4^th quarter, Boise State scored on two field goals and a touchdown, and it appeared they might win. But then CSU took control of the game.

They scored a touchdown with 4 minutes on the clock, and then they recovered an onside kick, giving them the ball again. They scored another touchdown with less than 2 minutes remaining in the game, and then the CSU defense held Boise State and forced them to punt. CSU scored another touchdown with one second on the clock and ended up winning the game 31-30.

We cheered and went wild for a couple of minutes, and when we finally settled down, Gramps spoke. “Well, that makes up for losing the Colorado game in double-overtime.”

“It doesn’t quite make up for it,” Pops countered, “but it does take away some of the sting.”

“That was an amazing finish, though. I never thought they’d be able to pull it off.”

“Ye of little faith,” Pops teased, “and I noticed a bunch of fans exiting the stadium early, so I’ll bet they’re sorry they didn’t stick around.”

We asked Barry to go out to eat with us, since his family wasn’t here, and he accepted. Even though he hadn’t known this was family weekend, Pops had thought ahead and made a reservation at Dominick’s for us. I’m sure they would have squeezed us in, no matter how many people were on the waiting list, but now we didn’t have to rely on the staff to cover for us.

We got there a little early as well, since Gramps felt the parking might be a problem, but fortunately we found a parking spot quickly. We didn’t have to wait very long to be seated either, because I’m sure we were moved up even higher on the waiting list now that we were there. Before long, we were taken to our table, and we answered Barry’s questions as he looked at the menu. When we finally placed our orders, Pops also ordered a bottle of wine for us to share.

“I believe the boys told me that you’re old enough to drink,” Pops said as he looked at Barry.

“Yes, I am.”

“And since the boys won’t be driving and we know the owner, I think it’s safe if they have a glass as well.”

“Now I understand why you two like having these guys come to the football games,” Barry said with a wink.

“Yes, they are pretty special,” Devin and I agreed.

When our meals were delivered, I kept an eye on Barry, to see how he was enjoying it. By the rate he was gobbling it down, I’d say he was either really hungry or he liked the food.

“I’ve never eaten here before, but the meal was fantastic,” Barry said when he finished eating.

“Yes, that’s why we like eating at Dominick’s. We come here a lot with Gramps and Pops, and sometimes we come here without them.

After we’d all finished eating our meals, Gramps ordered two of the Italian desserts so Barry could taste them, and then he and Pops told the three of us that we could share them.

“But don’t you want any?” Barry asked.

“You three are young and will burn off the extra calories quickly, while they will just accumulate on us and add more pounds,” Pops replied.

Barry also offered to pay for his share of the bill as well. “No, this is on us,” Gramps told him.

“You’re a lot like my grandfather and I love him the same way that Devin and Mike love the two of you. I can tell that just by listening to the way they talk about you.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Pops replied.

After we left the restaurant, we dropped Barry off at his apartment, since he had walked to the stadium earlier.

“Thanks for everything. I had a great time,” Barry told Gramps and Pops as he was getting out of the SUV.

“And we look forward to seeing you again when we come back for the Air Force game at the end of October,” Gramps replied.

“And I can’t wait until I see you at that game as well. Jer will probably be joining us for that game.”

“Then we look forward to seeing him as well.”

Once we arrived at the house, we merely sat around and talked about the wild ending to the game, and then we looked forward to the upcoming games before heading to bed. It had been a great day.