I turn the wheel and stamp the gas pedal.
He chuckles, “How’d you like that Ferris wheel idea?”
Headlights from a Ford passing us on the other side make us tense, but it’s a woman driver, so I relax and tell him, “I was hoping to spend some time alone with May since I have so little time.”
“I could see that. Heck, anybody could!” He swats my arm but I keep my eyes on the road. “Only now she doesn’t have to convince her Mother to let her go! She’ll be with her girlfriends and what Mother would say no to that?”
My eyebrows fly up. “Well look at you.”
“Smart, huh?”
“Looks like you’ve grown up after all.”
Hank laughs, “With you gone so long, someone had to fill your shoes!”
10
MAY
“M ay, perhaps you better get away from the door,” Gertie warns me.
But I want to watch him drive off, and the convertible makes that easy. “Isn’t he dreamy?”
“May, be sensible!”
“Oh alright,” I sigh, rejoining my friends as if it’s been just the four of us all night long. He’s disappeared anyhow. No use staring at the night sky that’s not the same without him watching it with me. And I won’t let the lonely feeling I just had at his absence creep in. Strangest thing.
Lily leans back, delicately picking at a sandwich. “I’d say that brother of his has some big ideas, hasn’t he?”
Gertie blushes, and turns to me, not wanting to be teased. She doesn’t have the disposition for it. “Say, do you think your Father can give me a ride home?” The telephone rings and we all look over. “That might be my mother now.”
Lily rolls her eyes. “It isn’t mine. She wouldn’t wonder where I was unless I held a bottle in my hand.”
Sable exchanges glances with Gertie and I before she lifts the receiver to answer, “Hello?”
“Why yes, Mrs. Felts, Gertie is here. I’m looking right at her.”
I whisper, “We can drive you, too, Lily, if you need.”
“No thanks. Home is the last place I want to be.”
“We’re having sandwiches, and tea, and a real grown-up night. The dance sure was a yawn. I hope Sister Charlotte didn’t give you any cause to worry about us.” Pause. “Oh no, I sent those boys away as soon as they did us the favor of bringing us home. You see, my parents are away and I can’t have male company.” As she listens to Gertie’s mother say something, Sable sticks her tongue out at Lily. “Well that would do just fine. I’ll tell her. Goodnight Mrs. Felts.”
“What will do just fine?” Gertie asks as Sable hangs up.
Lily interrupts, “I do declare, you are a piece of work!”
“One thing you don’t seem to know about me, Lily Marie Marlow, is that I am loyal as the day is long. Lying isn’t such a big deal if it saves your friends from getting into a jam. As long as the lie isn’t about something awful. I would never lie about stealing, or hurting someone’s property, or—”
“—I thought having boys here when your parents were gone was an atrocity!”
“I will not take your bait! You know very well what I mean!”
“Do I?” Lily smiles and tosses a bit of bread at her head.
Sable swats it away and we all look toward the sound of a car coming up the driveway.
“That’s Father. Are you coming, Gertie?”
“That all depends. What did my Mother say?”
“She said you could stay another half hour if you’d like. Your Father will pick you up then, and I agreed. But if you’d rather go with May.”
I look back, expecting her company and disappointed when I see her sit down in the chair. “You aren't coming?”
“I’d like to stay a little longer, if it’s all the same to you. You don’t mind, do you, May?”
“No, I guess it’s alright.”
Lily tosses bread at me next. “Don’t look so disappointed. We’ll be seeing you tomorrow at the fair. And Marvin will be driving Sable crazy, mooning after her and all. It’ll be a riot. You’ll see.”
My Father’s knock quiets us all.
Gertie whispers, “He sounds mad.”
I force a smile on my face, swinging open the door. He sure left home in a hurry because his sweater vest is buttoned wrong, the wide bottom hem not matching up like it’s meant to. “May Eloise, do you know what a state you’ve gotten your Mother into?”
“I’m awful sorry, Daddy.”
He throws his arm to point at his Ford. As I walk past him, my friends wish me, “Goodnight May!”
It sure was one.
I hurry along, throwing a quick wave behind me. When Father climbs in and starts the pickup, I rest my hands in my lap and wait. He’s a quiet man, but when he’s mad that quality forgets it knows him.
“May Eloise! What in Sam Hill possessed you to leave that dance without calling? You put your Mother in a state. And what’s this I hear about you leaving with four boys?”
With my ears ringing, I keep my eyes on the road. Someone’s got to.
“Gee, I hardly thought it was anything to worry about. They only gave us a ride, and didn’t stay or even come inside. I’d never been in that situation before, so I didn’t see the harm in it.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” he grumbles, silent the rest of the way.
I expect him to grumble about our home being just as good as anyone else’s home, when we park the car. Sable’s is two times the size, and he always remarks on it. Not tonight.
The keys are absolutely yanked from the ignition.
Oh goodness.
I’m in an awful mess, aren’t I?
The fair tomorrow.
What if I’m forbidden to go?
11
JERALD
We stroll into a sitting room lit by the black and white static of a program schedule long gone. Pops was the first of his friends to buy a television set. He believes it’s the next big thing. Bigger than radio. I turn the knob and the
