After he spoke, he leaned back with the same smirk of deserved confidence on his face that had caused Lee to ask the question in the first place. Lee and Henry were shocked. Never in their wildest imaginations could they have thought their beloved Pop Pop could have said these words. During their whole lives, they had heard their dad curse once, maybe twice. Both leaned back with big uncomfortable smiles on their faces, both not knowing whether to laugh or ask questions.
Finally, after a brief moment, Lee responded quite loudly, half laughing, “No way!” lifting himself up on the balls of feet as he said it.
Several people in the room perked up to see the small commotion in the corner from the Harper boys.
Henry was next and asked, “Are you serious, Dad?”
But Pop Pop acted as if nothing had happened and walked away from the commotion and joined Gwen, interrupting her conversation to loudly say, so most could hear, “You want to know what I told that sailor to get him to fight over Emily?” Everyone quietened. Most had heard the story and were intrigued, especially the grandchildren. Henry and Lee looked at their dad and then at each other, very uncomfortably, not knowing whether they should stop him. He continued, not in his normal friendly demeanor with which he was known for telling delightful stories. He was agitated and forceful about the story, which put many in the room on edge, especially his sons.
He continued, “The arrogant sailor came over and PUSHED me to get to Emily, and told me that army boys” (he emphasized the “boys” to show that that comment got under his skin) “were horrible lovers.” With a look of disgust on his face, he continued, “So I responded by telling him, “Oh, yeah….” He paused for dramatic effect.
Henry noticed this pause and tried to interrupt by saying, “All right, Dad, let’s….”
But he was cut off as Pop Pop continued and said, “Well, General Nimitz is a sissy.“
Upon hearing this, both Henry and Lee breathed a great sigh of relief. The room erupted in laughter. Gwen clapped her hands ecstatically with a giant smile and an uncontrollable laugh, as she let out a snort and leaned back on the sofa, clapping her hands in excitement about what she felt was Pop Pop’s relatively risqué response. All those that laughed did so, not out of respect for the funeral process, but because most had known the story of Pop Pop’s meeting his wife, as he would gladly share it with whoever would listen, and everyone found it comical that this non-volatile gentle soul could ever say something negative about another human enough to get another man to swing at him. He was the nicest man they had ever met, and imagining him in a fight was a struggle for many imaginations when they heard that he had fought for Umma when they first met.
Henry and Lee glanced at Pop Pop, who looked back with the same look of confidence and satisfied smirk. For a moment, all three connected to understand that the story they had heard was the real version but was meant only for them. Henry and Lee looked at each other and smiled, even though they were sad that their mother had passed. They were filled with an amazing feeling of happiness that at least she had been loved by their amazing father and that she had lived a great life. Neither would articulate it, but both felt that they had never loved their dad more than that day, when, in the middle of a sad event where they had all lost someone close to them, especially Pop Pop, he could make them laugh and be happy and still have a surprise after a lifetime of stories.
The wake started to die down around 7 pm and the family and friends started to trickle out around 8 pm, everyone paying their respects and sincerely thanking Pop Pop and the Harpers for a lovely evening, despite the sad event that had brought them all together.
The Harper boys had both settled in the place of their birth, Grand Rapids Michigan, where their dad had worked as a senior manager of the Herman Miller furniture factory, his style almost being picked up by osmosis from the stylish furniture he ensured was built to the highest stands. Pop Pop had joined on the factory floor and moved his way up to management after several years. He and Emily had moved to Michigan when they realized she was pregnant with Henry and wanted a more family-friendly city than Detroit.
Lee worked as a lawyer specializing in real estate and Henry worked as an engineer for a tool and die factory. Both had graduated from Michigan State. Living close but not in the same neighborhood, they would see each other at church and some family get-togethers but would not make special occasions to get together because they would run into each other enough through their regular routine. They were two years apart and were very similar, some even asking if they were twins. However, this was silly because they really didn’t look anything alike, but they did act in very similar ways. Both were tall, over 6 foot, slender, not athletic, and almost clumsy, like their father. Lee was a little more muscular than Henry but this was only recognizable to close friends. Both were very confident and commanded an audience when they spoke, both taking after their father in that regard. There was an obvious difference that made each unique and affable for their independent qualities. Henry had confidence, independence and a sense of worth many firstborns have, while Lee was a little more dependent and conscious of what others thought, especially his older brother. There was no real competitive nature between the two. Both were into very different things.
Henry was always analytical and involved himself in “geeky” clubs such as math and chess clubs, and the rotary club in high school, but he was not a geek, far from it. He actually was just smart and enjoyed those people who challenged and pushed his intellect. He was handsome, which made him especially intimidating to the few girls in the “geeky” clubs who lacked the social skills to articulate a conversation with someone they found both attractive and smart. Needless to say, Henry had many girls swooning over him in high school but because he didn’t associate with the “cool” crowd, none were the popular type. Regardless, Henry was a late bloomer and girls were really not on his radar, even the ones undressing him with their eyes in the hallways. So he went through most of high school hanging out with male friends, getting into the standard trouble, and social interactions. This all changed when he became a freshman in university when he realized his newfound freedom and that women actually liked him. He grew in leaps and bounds in his freshman year socially, partially because of joining a fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, but also because something within him just clicked.
Henry dated many young girls his first few years of college, mostly women introduced to him through fraternity functions where he was the president, attesting to his social turnaround and his propensity for leadership instilled in him by his father. He didn’t really enjoy many of the sorority girls he had dated; most were too involved in fake ideas of popularity at a large university which he found “ridiculous.” He had always disliked the self-proclaimed “cool” people who dominated high school popularity contests and attempted to do the same in university, especially within the Greek system. He did not become president because he was popular, even though he was; he did it because he and his fraternity brothers knew he’d do a great job, which he did. Because most of the women he met he did not connect with, he would feign interest and could be known as almost mean. That was until he met Gwen.
He met Gwen at a Gamma Phi Beta sorority social diner when SAE had been paired with them for homecoming. Gwen was not your typical sorority girl. She did not wear much makeup or wear revealing clothing. She was almost tomboyish, wearing jeans and tee-shirts, with her hair in a ponytail, tan skin with no foundation or blush, just a little eyeliner. Her dark blue eyes and cute smile just screamed, “I’m fun and not pretentious!” She was in a sorority because her mother had demanded it. She pretended she didn’t care for it, but secretly enjoyed the social interaction with the fraternity boys and some of the “girly” things, but her attitude branded her a mild outcast to some of the sisters who were gung-ho. She was sitting with two other sorority girls at a table at the front entry of their house, asking each fraternity member their name, year, major and fraternity position, if they held one, and writing it on a name tag. Henry finally made it to the front of the line, not paying attention to the girls doing their menial task. He was chatting with his friend and not paying attention, which annoyed Gwen. She was about to tap him on the leg with her pen when he turned and she “accidentally,” according to her, used the felt end