The Ricker liked to give "life lectures."
He could also be surprised, as well. Once, in 1999, I borrowed his car (the '92; he didn't have the '99 yet because he never buys new cars) to pick up my then girlfriend (and current wife) from the airport. We had dated for about two months, but I had been home for the summer for one of those months, and she was flying up to visit. As I pulled out of Mo-town, I remembered that I needed to make an important purchase: condoms. Being from such a small town, there was no way I would buy condoms at a local store, so I stopped at a gas station on the way to the airport. I was a few minutes late to pick up my girlfriend, but I think she understood. We went to dinner and went home, and she slept in the guest suite upstairs, with its stair case right next to the Ricker's room.
Early the next morning, the Ricker backed out his car and I hopped in, as I was working for his company that summer (and he wouldn't even give me the day off). He reached down to readjust the seat, and found a foil-like strip. Pulling it up to examine, he asked what it was, and I immediately grabbed it and hid it in my room. When I got back in the car, he asked me, "was that a prophylactic?" Before I could answer, the Ricker launched into a 45 minute lecture. He wasn't angry at all. Instead, he offered a "life lecture" on his experience in the 1960s, when he was young and got his younger girlfriend pregnant, then decided to marry her. They were incompatible and the marriage ended shortly after it began--though the Ricker raised my brother. For 45 minutes, I did not say a word; I just listened to the Ricker and his life lesson.
I didn't tell my girlfriend about that incident right away (at least not while she was staying at the house). She would have been mortified. Oh well, Mrs. Ricker heard me sneak up to the guest room that first night, anyway.
He could also be surprised, as well. Once, in 1999, I borrowed his car (the '92; he didn't have the '99 yet because he never buys new cars) to pick up my then girlfriend (and current wife) from the airport. We had dated for about two months, but I had been home for the summer for one of those months, and she was flying up to visit. As I pulled out of Mo-town, I remembered that I needed to make an important purchase: condoms. Being from such a small town, there was no way I would buy condoms at a local store, so I stopped at a gas station on the way to the airport. I was a few minutes late to pick up my girlfriend, but I think she understood. We went to dinner and went home, and she slept in the guest suite upstairs, with its stair case right next to the Ricker's room.
Early the next morning, the Ricker backed out his car and I hopped in, as I was working for his company that summer (and he wouldn't even give me the day off). He reached down to readjust the seat, and found a foil-like strip. Pulling it up to examine, he asked what it was, and I immediately grabbed it and hid it in my room. When I got back in the car, he asked me, "was that a prophylactic?" Before I could answer, the Ricker launched into a 45 minute lecture. He wasn't angry at all. Instead, he offered a "life lecture" on his experience in the 1960s, when he was young and got his younger girlfriend pregnant, then decided to marry her. They were incompatible and the marriage ended shortly after it began--though the Ricker raised my brother. For 45 minutes, I did not say a word; I just listened to the Ricker and his life lesson.
I didn't tell my girlfriend about that incident right away (at least not while she was staying at the house). She would have been mortified. Oh well, Mrs. Ricker heard me sneak up to the guest room that first night, anyway.
posted at 5:22 PM
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