My brother, Ray, went to college at Virginia tech, a six hour drive from our house in Pittsburgh. I know this because my father timed it during one of our road trips there. “It’s three hundred and thirty three miles from our front door to his home on Wilson Street”, he’d say proudly to anyone who asked. Ray usually came home at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and for the summer. I must admit that we were never friends as kids and I liked to antagonize him by knocking over his horses or disturbing him while he read one of his many books. When Ray left for college in August 1989, I was sad, but I was also excited, I knew the time apart would bring us closer together and I would have a deeper appreciation of our relationship.
Anyway, one evening my father came in from visiting our neighbor, Red Weightman, and announced that Red’s grand daughter, Lori Szabo, had seen Ray the night before in Downtown Pittsburgh, with his friend Debbie, who was driving a blue Saturn. “He drove all the way from god damn Blacksburg Virginia and didn’t have the decency to let us know that he was in town!” my father screamed as he picked up the phone to call Ray. My father was actually able to insert a Jesus Christ, God dammit, or Son of a bitchin’ into any sentence when he was angry. My mother yelled, “We’re killing ourselves financially to pay his tuition and he doesn’t even visit us!” All eyes turned to me…”Did you know your brother was in town?” my dad shouted, “No” I replied. My father dialed Ray’s number and I held my breath…
“How was the trip?” my dad asked
“What trip?” Ray replied
“Don’t you lie to me god dammit! I know you were in Pittsburgh…Lori Szabo saw you in Downtown Pittsburgh the other night in a blue Saturn with your friend Debbie…Now I want the truth!” Dad yelled into the receiver
“Dad,” Ray said calmly, “I live six hours and three hundred miles away…Why would I come to Pittsburgh and not tell you?”
“I don’t know, but Lori Szabo said she saw you in a blue Saturn with your friend Debbie.” Dad said
“First of all, I don’t have any friends named Debbie, secondly, none of my friends have a blue Saturn…and why the hell would you believe a fucking airhead like Lori Szabo over your own child?!” Ray shouted.
“Don’t you talk to me like that son!” dad said “here talk to your mother.”
“If you were in town, you should have told us” mom said
“I wasn’t in town! I can’t believe that you would listen to Lori Szabo!” Ray said
Ray eventually hung up on them and didn’t call for a few days. The next evening, my brother’s housemate, Martin called.
“Hello Mister Calabro, it’s Martin. I wanted to let you know that Ray was not in Pittsburgh, he was here with us and we have proof” Martin said.
“Thank you for calling Martin, but you don’t have to lie or cover up for my son” Dad replied
“Mister Calabro, Paul and I are not lying for ray. He was here and we can prove it.”
“Thank you for calling…I appreciate it.” Dad said and hung up the phone.
So, in the end, our parents believed a relative stranger over their own child. If they knew the things we really did and got away with, they’d probably die…
Hot off the Mess 