Pop: Chapter 20a

     Even when doing it with three of your friends.

    "My visits were routine.  I didn't experience any more painful episodes.  Not until late April, and it was minor.  When I went in the following week for my regular visit, I had grown about a quarter of an inch and put on about five pounds.  Dr. Mendel was urging me and my parents that I should get the operation soon, before my growing caused another bout of pain.  Both my dad and I agreed I should wait until after school ended for the year.  I didn't want to miss out on any finals, not to mention how awkward it would've been to explain the operation." Rick continues.

    "When I went back for the final visit the day of the operation, I had grown another inch and a half or so and put on almost fifteen pounds.  I was having pain almost every day, as puberty was hitting me, 'hard.' The doctor said the operation would have been more difficult if I had waited much longer.  That morning, I had to procedure, stayed there overnight, and left the following afternoon when it was apparent I wasn't going to have any complications.  We stayed in Lexington for the rest of the week, and when I measured myself when we got home that Saturday, I had grown another half inch.  I couldn't get the area wet, so no regular baths or swimming for a few weeks.  Hated that."

    "I could only imagine, considering how much time you spent in the shower in college," I add.

    "When I went in more a follow-up visit a few weeks later, I was a little over five ten, maybe taller than the doc.  He barely looked me over, and then he said I was fine.  My growth spurt had sped up the healing process, I guess.  By the time I started high school, I was just over six feet tall, one of the biggest guys in our class.  And I finally looked like all the other guys, down there.  I was no longer embarrassed in the restroom or locket room.  In fact, I guess I had a 'cockiness' to be myself, now that I no longer had to hide." Rick laughs at his own little joke.

    "I'll say," Will pipes in.  "You would barely open up to me back in grade school, and even then I felt you kept things back.  When all but stripped down naked that first time in the locker room for PE, in front of so many strangers, I couldn't believe it.  Or when me and Pete did the same."

    "Hey, I joined in too." All four of us laugh at that point.  Who knew that barely a month later, we would see a lot more of each other.

    "I didn't think about that any more, until our second year of college," Rick carries on.  "When Pete had left, Chris needed a new roomie.  I volunteered, especially when one of Will's pre-med classmates needed a new room himself.  His name was Evan, something."

    "Evan Neilson.  I haven't heard from him years, not since he moved out."Will adds.

    "Well, those first few weeks, I would accidentally wind up in my old room, since in was at the near end of the hall.  Evan didn't seem to mind when I walked in unannounced, but he would rarely talk to me when you weren't there, Will.  Finally, in October, I asked him one day, why he didn't want to talk to me.  He hesitated a minute before finally saying that I looked like a person in some naked pictures his old roommate had on his computer.  Now, I got naked a lot more frequently than I probably should have in both high school and college, but it was never in a situation where anyone could've taken pics of me.  I 'kindly' asked him about his old roommate and to take me to his room immediately.  Will came in, so I wouldn't get an answer from Evan for a few more days, but that Friday, Evan took me over to another hall so I could confront the guy." 

    "I don't remember any of that.  Evan was acting weird that fall, but neither of you mentioned anything." Will says.

        "I wanted to keep things quiet, until I knew more.  Reporter's instinct and all. Anyway, Evan old roommate had stepped out for a minute. He showed Evan while I stayed behind until he left. He hadn't gotten a new roomie yet, so he had the whole suite to himself.  And he was able to keep him computer out and open all the time.  So, I was able to easily bring up some of the stuff he had.  I quickly found the pictures of me.  And video.  They were the same ones Dr. Mendel had taken of me before the surgery."

    "But, you were only ..."

    "Yeah," Rick adds with a sense of finality.  "There were other pics from other patients, but the only video was of me. I confronted Evan immediately, why he didn't bring this up to the authorities sooner.  Evan didn't cave.  I mean, I was a few inches taller than him, and way heavier.  I was picking him when the roommate walked back in.  I dropped Evan and rushed the other guy.  He had seen that I had been watching his computer and ran out the building before I could catch up to him.  Campus police caught him a little later.  What that guy did was a crime, and he was kicked out of school.  Evan was allowed to stay, but on a probationary status."

    "Why didn't I hear about this?  You think this would have been all over the campus."

    "I was a journalism major, remember.  I made sure that the story was kept quiet, especially since I was part of the story.  The university wanted to keep things quiet too. I called my dad that afternoon, before I was set to go home for the weekend, and told him everything.  I few minutes later, he called back, saying that I needed to stay in town that weekend.  He had contacted a firm in Lexington that had worked with the sheriff's department frequently and that we had an appointment to see what could be done.  The firm of Collins, Jacoby, and Thompson."

    "Thompson? Isn't that..."

    "Yep.  My future father-in-law." Rick chuckles upon answering.