A great big thank you to blackrandl1958 for her editing and her patience.
As usual, the Calcaterra family was seated in the third row center for the 9 a.m. Sunday morning service at St. Ignatius Catholic Church. Rev. Thomas Flaherty was five minutes into what would be a 75-minute service when Traci Delvecchio walked into the church, walked all the way up to the third row, squeezed past five other people and sat down in the lone empty seat in the row next to her nephew, "Little Dan" Calcaterra.
Five spots over to her left, her brother-in-law, "Big Dan" Calcaterra, shot her a look of irritation combined with disdain. Big Dan considered himself to be a pillar of the church and took his sister-in-law's tardiness as an embarrassment to the family. He next looked over to his wife, Darlene, with a stern expression on his somber face and shook his head. Darlene, his wife of 22 years, raised her eyebrows and squeezed his right hand with her left before giving him a sly smile. Big Dan blew out a breath from his mouth and smiled tight-lipped back at his wife.
Traci was the youngest of the three Delvecchio girls. She was so much younger, in fact, that she was closer in age to Dan and Darlene's three children than she was to Darlene, the oldest of the three Delvecchio girls. Darlene, like Dan, was 42 years old, while Traci was just 24. The Calcaterra children, Abby, Little Dan, and Phillip, were 16, 14, and 10, respectively.
Perhaps because of their closeness in age, the three Calcaterra children idolized Traci. She was smart, sassy and beautiful, and each wanted to be noticed by their aunt when she was around. This didn't exactly please Big Dan, who thought Traci was nothing more than a spoiled wild child who was often able to get her way because her parents — Dan's in-laws — were just too old to assert their will on her. He and Darlene often debated whether Traci was a bad influence on their kids, particularly their daughter Abby, who left to her own devices was usually quiet and somewhat timid. After a few hours with Traci, however, Dan was sure the girl was on the road to perdition as she often questioned her parents and their methods of raising her and her two siblings.
Dan felt his wife was too lenient with Traci, looking at her as more a ne'er-do-well than a petulant brat. Darlene would often have a small smile on her face as she watched Traci interacting with her kids, while Dan's insides would be roiling with doubt.
He looked down the row again.
'My God, that dress has to be six inches above her knees. What self-respecting woman goes to church dressed like that!' he thought to himself.
Little Dan also looked at his aunt and thought she was the prettiest woman he knew. She reached for his right hand with her left and gave it a squeeze, and Dan looked at her and gave her a shy smile in return.
When the service was over, Big Dan went over to talk with several of the other church leaders in attendance, while his family and Traci waited outside the church in the bright spring sunshine. There was a lot of activity as the 9 a.m. crowd left and the 10:30 a.m. crowd was moving in. Traci was holding court with the Calcaterra children, while Darlene stood just off to the side with a small smile on her face. When Big Dan returned, the group headed off to Darlene's parents' house for Sunday dinner, with Abby getting to accompany Traci in her hot new 1972 Ford Mustang. On the way to the car, Abby noticed several of the younger men of the church hungrily eyeing Traci, who didn't seem to notice either the looks or the leers. Several of the young men were quite handsome, the 16-year-old noted to herself.
While they drove to her grandparents' house, Abby, too, couldn't help but admire Traci's beauty. She hoped that at least a portion of Traci's physical attributes were hereditary, although she was realistic enough to know that at 16, the boob fairy wasn't going to stop in the middle of the night and turn her into Traci's equal. Still, she admired the way the older woman held herself, never seeming to rely on her looks to get what she wanted.
Big Dan watched grim-faced as Traci and Abby got out of Traci's car. He was never comfortable with what Traci — a guy magnet — Dan admitted to himself, might say to his innocent 16-year-old daughter. A God-fearing man, Dan wasn't comfortable with the direction being taken by the women of the 1970s, who seemed perfectly happy to live in the moment with no thought to what might happen in the future. Thank God he had married a sensible woman like Darlene, he thought to himself.
It was a typical Sunday afternoon at the Delvecchios'. Darlene's sister, Joan, and her husband, Larry, brought their three kids over, and one of Delores Delvecchio's sisters joined the fray, making it 14 people around the big Duncan Phyfe dining table for the sit-down pasta meal. At 61, Delores Delvecchio was still a good-looking woman, and reveled in moments like this where she could play the matriarch. Frank Delvecchio more than once looked over at his wife of 43 years with the pride of a king at home in his castle.
*****
Dan Calcaterra — his college buddies would never know about the "Little Dan" nickname, was checking out the babes on the beach at Fort Lauderdale during spring break his junior year in college. He and three buddies had driven from East Lansing down to the party haven to drink and hopefully score some women. He had an armload of snacks he was bringing to his group of buddies when he ran into a familiar face.
"Hey, 'Little Dan,' what's shakin'?" asked a bikini-clad and somewhat inebriated Traci as she walked up to him.
It had been several years since Dan had seen Traci in a bikini, and never one this skimpy before. Her large breasts looked firm and tanned, and the bottom part of the bikini couldn't have risen too much higher than the top of her pubic mound. Dan realized he was staring just a fraction too late.
"Well it sure is nice to be appreciated," Traci said as she planted a kiss on his cheek. "But tell me one thing: is that a bottle opener in your pocket or are you just glad to see your aunt?"
Dan nervously shot a look to his crotch and, sure enough, he was very obviously hard. He blushed deeply before stammering out a reply.
"It... it... it's just Dan here, Aunt Traci. Don't go arming these guys with that 'Little Dan' shit or I'll never here the end of it."
"Well, okay, then
Dan
, but it's just
Traci
as well. No 'aunt' shit here. Got it? Now give your aunt a kiss and say hello."
Dan stepped to her and kissed her cheek. Traci wrapped her arms around Dan and his armload of food, making sure to graze his forearms with her boobs. Dan sighed at the touch, unable to help himself.
"So where are you going with the food?" she inquired.
Dan used his chin to point at the group of three guys and two girls.
"Looks like there's room for me," she pointed out.
All three of Dan's friends perked up when Traci showed up with Dan. Selk, Dan's roommate, jumped up for an immediate introduction.