Eyelashes fluttering closed.
Woopsiedaisies!
I catch her just in time.
I’ve got you.
I hear the gasps of her friends while I adjust my hold, one knee on the floor to brace us.
“Hey now, you awake? You alright?”
She’s an angel in a cloud of blue taffeta. There isn’t a smidge of make up on her unconscious face, none that I can see anyhow. Her lips, bright pink.
It occurs to me, I could kiss her awake. But her blonde eyelashes flutter open, sky-blue eyes filled with wonder as she stares at me.
“You alright?” She nods, so I ask, “You have a name?”
She nods again. “May.”
“Pretty name for a prettier girl.”
Holy cow, her smile lights up the gymnasium and gets me smiling, too. Not an easy feat these days.
A sharp-faced nun races up. “What’s the meaning of this? Unhand her!” And she’s accompanied by two others just like her but twenty years younger.
I rise and stand May up, checking to see if she’s steady while her friends explain, “She fainted, Sister!”
“Yes, that’s why they were like that.”
“He caught her!”
“Well, he can let her go now!”
I smile and tip my hat. “Sister Charlotte.”
Her eyes go wide.
JERALD
A circle of onlookers has grown and everyone is leaning in. Hank and his friends walked over, too.
Turning to May, I take off my fedora and ask, “Need some fresh air?”
Sister Charlotte all but shouts, “I think not! Miss Kearns will not be walking with the likes of you, Jerald Daniel Cocker. I remember you!”
I smile, “You even remember my middle name? If I weren’t so apologetic I’d be flattered, Sister. You’re right of course. I shouldn’t be here at all, especially after you forbid me to ever return. See, the trouble is I told my brother — you remember Hank, don’t you?” I motion to where he rocks on his heels, nodding a greeting. “You see Hank talked me into coming tonight, but I rejected the invite at first, knowing how you’d feel about it.” Truth is, I’d forgotten all about the incident, years overseas wiping such trivialities from my mind. “But then he reminded me that in just three days time my submarine departs.” At her scan of my civilian wardrobe I explain, “Oh, my mother is washing my dress blues, Sister, or I’d have worn them, I assure you. I’m a Navy man now, proud to be so, not the rebellious boy you met four years ago, and I won’t be able to see my kid brother again for many months, if not a year or more. He was awful stricken with the idea of not spending time with me while I’m on leave.” I rub my lip with my thumb. “And well, one never knows what this war will bring…”
The last thing she wants to do is disrespect a serviceman’s need to see his family.
However, poor gal, she also knows I’m the guy who spiked her punch bowls when I was a senior, enough to get both schools blotto.
She’s about to blow, angry at my being so dang charming. But the nun on her left leans over. “Isn’t Congressman Cocker a considerable donor, Sister Charlotte? Are these his sons, because if they are…?”
Hank winks at me.
Cornered, Sister Charlotte barks. “You boys go back to where you were! Peter Tuck, wipe that smile off your face or I’ll throw you out on your keister alone!”
“Yes, Sister.”
Peter, my brother, Marvin, and I, all walk away as the crowd disperses.
With the sisters marching into a dance floor that will feel their thwarted wrath, I look over my shoulder at the blonde angel with eyes I’d like to drown in. “Say, tell me about the doll.”
“Haven’t thought much about her, to be honest, Jer.” Hank rakes his sandy-brown hair back and nods to Peter for help. “At the games she never says a peep. This is the first dance I’ve seen her at. What about you, Tuck? What’s the dish on the dish?”
Peter shrugs, “Just like Hank, I haven’t noticed her much.”
“What about Lily?” Hank smirks, “Have you noticed her?”
Peter tips back his fedora. “Yes sir, Lily Marlow is a dangerous girl. I’d like to find out how much.”
Hank hits my arm. “Tuck’s had eyes on her since last year, but she won’t give him the time of day. He’s sure he’ll win her over!”
Tuck smirks, “Wanna lay a wager on it?”
My brother laughs, “I’ll pass!” but loses the smile as he catches me frowning with my mind on the doll. “Jer, if you wanna beat it, I understand. Sister Charlotte won’t let you take anyone to the dance floor after that, and I don’t want you bored sick on account of I asked you to come.”
Chewing my lip and staring at the dance floor while I plan, I mutter, “Don’t wanna dance with any girl but her anyhow.”
“So, are you leaving?”
“Don’t wanna leave neither.”
Hank and his friends exchange a look. “Well I don’t see how…hey look! Lily’s trying to get our attention!”
MAY
L ily whispers, “Girls, listen to this. I have a swell idea!”
“Oh no!” Sable groans, pushing her glasses higher on her nose on account of they slid when she leaned in. “I’m not going to like this!”
And she most likely won’t.
But I might.
Lily saw Jerald Cocker looking over his shoulder when he left after Sister Charlotte made him, and she claims he’s sweet on me. If anyone can come up with a scheme to see if she’s right, it’s Lily. I wish I had her moxie. Gertie and I both do.
Lily Marlow is the prettiest, by far, with sultry eyes and a figure that makes us all wish we drank more milk. Mother’s opinion is she’s a trouble maker, but I believe that’s not fair. She just has no fear, is all. Her best friend, Sable, has enough for both of them!
We lean in closer as Lily explains, “Sister Charlotte and the Buzzard Squad are already bawling out some other poor fella, so as I see it…”
Gertie whispers, “You shouldn’t call nuns buzzards!”
I smile and grab her arm.
Lily ignores her. “…it’s our chance to escape!”
With her usual skepticism, Sable demands, “Where are we going that they can’t find us?!”
“I’m not suggesting we prance down the halls to someplace we’d get caught. We’re smarter than that!”
“Why don’t we just go back to enjoying ourselves? I mean, I wasn’t yet. But I had high hopes!”
Lily rolls her eyes. “Why do you have to be such a fuddy duddy?” Turning to Gertie and me, she whispers, “The sisters are supposed to watch over us when we’re here.”
I blurt, “You mean leave the school?!”
Gertie and Sable gasp.
Lily nods and we all go quiet.
Gertie and I exchange a look and, as her best friend, I know what she’s thinking without her having to say a word. We’re excited to finally be seniors. The school year has just begun. A new world is ahead of us. Do we want to gamble our freedom away on one of Lily’s wild ideas?
Gertie turns to Lily. “Tell us what to do.”
“We’re going to walk right out that door and act perfectly normal. You see, Sable’s parents have gone to Washington for some lobbying, haven’t they Sabes?”
“I don’t like the sound of this at all.”
“What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Don’t even get me started on ideas!”
Lily waves down. “That would be a bad start, wouldn’t it? Everything you think is a downer anyhow.”
“Is not!”
The three of us simultaneously say, “Is so.”
“Somebody has to be the voice of reason!”
We all stare at Sable.
Lily announces, “It’s settled then!”
“Hey!” It’s no use. Lily wins every argument they ever have and this one won’t be any different. So she gives up, and shrugs. “Fine.”
With mixed terror and fascination we wa
tch Lily catch Hank Cocker’s attention. After a very brief and silent exchange she is victorious. “Girls, we’re in business!”
JERALD
F our dresses vanish from sight.
“Interested?” Hank grins.
“Am I? Hold on there, not so fast.” I flatten my hand on his chest. “Sound the alarms while you’re at it, Hank, come on.”
“Sorry. Wasn’t thinking straight. We can’t just run after them.”
“That’s right. Patience.”
Darren strolls back from hoofing it on the dance floor. “What’s buzzin’ cousins?”
Peter yawns, “We might be shoving off. Wanna come?”
“Already? Nah. You fellas go. Can’t run out now. Still got some dance cards with my name on them.”
Marvin asks, “More than two?”
“Don’t you?”
“Well, sure but…”
“You don’t, do you.”
Marv glances around our expectant faces, and shrugs. “Don’t feel much like dancing, is all.”
Hank throws an arm around his shoulder to include him in our group, calling to Darren, “So long!”
As soon as we’re out of earshot, he reassures his pal, “Didn’t want him to come anyhow, Marvin. You see there’s four of them and four of us. Darren would have made it five, right? And you know, Sable is there…”
Marvin perks up, and off we go on our adventure.
Outside, my brother chuckles, “There they are. Don’t know about you fellas, but I don’t think this is a smart plan.”
Peter gives him a wink. “Which of us is smart?”
“Not you.”
The dolls have spotted us, whispering to each other.
May’s chest rises quickly. I keep my gaze up as a gentleman, but I caught a glimpse and liked what I saw.
Peter is first to speak. “Say Lily, any idea how much trouble you could get in if you’re caught out here with us?”
A sassy smile is his happy answer.
May and I are staring at each other.
But the doll with glasses jumps on his warning. “Peter’s right, Lily, we have to get out of here!”
She gets swatted away with a perfunctory, “Sable, hush!”
“I mean out, out!”
Lily meets her eyes and realizes she had misunderstood. “This is why I love you!”
“What do you mean out?” Hank jogs his thumb back to the gymnasium building. “Don’t you mean in?”
Sable rolls her eyes. “Lily has a bright idea that’ll be my undoing, that’s what I mean!”
May’s pretty lips part and I stare at them as she says, “I didn’t get your name.”
“Didn’t you hear the Sister?”
“I would like to hear you say it.”
I tip my hat and give her a smile. “I’m Jerald Cocker. Nice to make your acquaintance, May.”
A smile grows that is so charming I can’t look away.
Gertie tugs on her dress. “May, we really should be going! Now!”
Lily throws her hand out, palm down, fingers graceful. “Listen boys, we’re taking this party to Sable’s house? You game?”
Peter shrugs like he could stay or go. “Sure, I don’t see why not. Lead the way.”
“You boys have a car, right?”
I’m about to offer mine, but Marvin beats me to it, holding his hand a little too high. “I do! I have one!”
He’s got eyes on the sourpuss. Must love carrying a bucket uphill.
That leaves the cute brunette standing next to May, for my brother. He knows it, too, because he offers his arm. “Shall we, Gertie?”
She lights up with surprise, and slides her hand through it while the eight of us stroll to the parking lot, talking amongst ourselves.
May is by my side, but we aren’t touching. I’ve got my greedy fingers in my pockets, and she’s turning a ring on her right hand. “That’s pretty.”
She smiles, “It’s my mother’s. She let me borrow it tonight. I wasn’t supposed to come here, you know.”
“Me neither.”
A creaking behind us makes us look back in time to see Sister Charlotte open the door to their gymnasium, the same two sisters just behind her. Positively horrified, she yells, “Girls!”
All eight of us break into a run.
“Girls! Get back here!”
Marvin hollers, “That one is mine!” pointing at a burgundy Chrysler Saratoga up on the far right. He, Peter, Lily and Sable make a dash for it.
Lucky for us, I parked a little closer. At Dad’s black Lincoln Continental, I grab the passenger door and tell May and her friend, “Get in!”
Hank stays by the door, last to jump inside while I race around to drive. He’s in the backseat with Gertie, and he reaches over at the same time May does, to shut the door. “Thanks!”
Sister Charlotte is in shock.
She and the other nuns are standing with their jaws dropped, blinking fast.
“I’m… I’m telephoning… your… your parents!”
May rolls down her window and hangs out of it while I drive. “Oh please don’t, Sister Charlotte! Why must you be so mean? Don’t you remember how much fun life was when you were just a girl?”
I chuckle to myself and stamp on the gas pedal, following Marvin to Sable’s house.
The legal speed limit of thirty-five miles-per-hour does not apply tonight, that’s for certain!
MAY
I ’ve gone and done it, haven’t I?
Sister Charlotte is probably dialing the operator right now. Connect me to the Kearns residence. Or perhaps she’s run to her office where her files are, searching for each of our phone numbers and the names of our parents so she’s more prepared. I’m in the worst trouble, especially because I can’t stop smiling.
From the backseat, Gertie says, “A convertible! What are you, the Mayor?”
Hank explains in a lower volume for just her, “Our Father is bigger than that. Did you hear the nuns saying our Pops is in Congress? He makes laws.”
As he launches into how the House of Representatives works, Jerald and I exchange a look that makes my body tingle. “You’re in the Navy?”
Pale green eyes fixate on me, and return to the road. “That’s right.”
He doesn’t offer more, so I’ll just enjoy the view for a moment. Mother would call his an honest jaw. I like that nose, too. If my blonde hair were naturally curly like his, I wouldn’t have to pin-curl it every night. It looks soft. I’m glad it’s not slicked down like some of the boys wear it. He’s such a confident driver, too. My father always drives with both hands on the wheel. Jerald’s so in control.
My mother will have a fit when she discovers what I’ve done, but the truth is I feel perfectly safe with the Cocker Brothers. Their friends are good guys, too, although Lily likes to pretend Peter is a pain.
“Did you just enlist, or have you already been... over there?”
I regret my question. Something about it made him frown. I know so very little about the geography of the war, especially since we’re fighting both Germany and Japan and those are in completely different places.
“I hope my vague ‘over there’ didn’t make it seem that I’m a chucklehead.”
Jerald laughs, “No, I think that’s about right. Besides, I can’t say exactly where I’ve been or where I’m going. Confidential.”
“Oh, I see.”
Hank pauses his teachings. “My brother is a hero! Forget about geography, think deeper! Do you know where he lives? Underwater in the ocean where it’s so dark even the sun can’t reach it.”
“You’ll have to excuse Hank. He has grand ideas.” Jerald throws me a wink, then focuses back on the road to ask, “How old are you, May?”
“I don’t like numbers. I find them confining.”
A grin flashes, and his brother laughs like a balloon just popped.
Gertie explains, “No, it’s true! May is always saying that numbers are jails that limit the imagination!”
Gertie is quick to explain, “We may as well be. There isn’t a single thing about me that May doesn’t know.”
“Oh well friends is alright too, I guess.”
“Best friends!” she corrects him. “Since we were five right after my parents moved here from Ohio, right May?”
I’m staring at Jerald as I answer a dreamy, “That’s right.”
Hank says, “We haven’t been to Ohio yet. I hear there’s a lot of snow.”
“There sure is. I was awfully young when we left, but my memory is very good, isn’t it, May?”
“Mmhmm.”
She continues, “You’d remember, too, if you were bundled up like that. Why, for all the months of winter I felt like a walking marshmallow!”
Hank laughs and I look over my shoulder to see her pleased that he finds her charming.
Their conversation continues with just the two of them and I lean in again to whisper to Jerald, “She’s normally very shy, except with me. Even with Lily and Sable, she doesn’t talk much. But they do so much talking, it’s hard to get a word in edgewise.”
He keeps his voice low, too, and it feels like it’s just us in the car. “Hank has that way about him, always has. He can make anybody feel comfortable.”
“What about you? Don’t you make people comfortable?”
“People like to talk. I’d rather not. I like quiet.”
Settling back, I touch my taffeta. “I can be silent, too.”
Jerald glances to me with a gleam in his eye.
We gaze out the windshield as Albany, Georgia slides by. I sneak a peek at him and he does the same to me, making me look away in a hurry. Drumming the armrest with my fingertips, I focus on the tail lights we’re following, wondering if Lily and Peter are getting along as well. She seemed to be flirting with him, despite her claim that she wouldn’t date him if he were the last boy on the Earth.
Gertie and I couldn’t understand it, because he’s got so much going for him — handsome, sharp wit, comes from a good family, nice prospects. When we pressed her, Lily’s temper became short. We dropped the subject entirely, until Gertie and I were alone. We both agree that Lily wasn’t telling us something.
May Cocker (Cocker Brothers Book 24) Page 2
