by Ann Herrick
Caprice took a long pull on her cup of coffee. Then she looked straight into my eyes. "That's why I wanted to stop being Spit Sisters. I couldn't bear to be around Karl. When I saw the girls he dated, I tried to look as different from them as I could. When he graduated from high school last year, I was glad. When I heard he joined the Navy, I was thrilled that there would no longer be a chance that I might run into him."
Caprice traced her finger around the edge of the cup. "But when I heard he was going to be stationed half-way around the world, in place where he might be in who-knows-how-much danger, I had to see him. I decided I was grown up enough to make use of that dime. At the party I handed it to him. He accepted it with a smile. That gave me the courage to give him a small picture of me. And, well, you pretty much know what happened after that."
I nodded.
"But the main thing," Caprice said, "is that I wanted you to know why I stopped hanging out with you. I can't believe I was such a ratfink. I'm so sorry." She gave me a quick hug.
A tiny little speck of me wondered if the whole business of her hanging out with me again wasn't just because of Karl. It certainly was part of it. But we'd been good friends before, and we shared a lot of history. It felt good to have her as a friend again. If things worked out with her and Karl, some day she'd be my sister-in-law, and I'd have to get along with her anyway. I returned Caprice's hug. "Hey, no sweat."
"Thanks." Caprice checked her watch. "My break's over. I gotta split."
"So long."
I took my time going the rest of the way home. Maybe I wanted to delay calling Nolan. Would he have tried to call me? I almost wished he had, only to find me not home. But I didn't want to have to explain who he was to Mama. I mean, it would just be too complicated.
We had a quiet supper. There was no mention of any phone calls for me. Then Mama and Karl asked me to go with them to the hospital to see Papa. I was bone tired, but I showered and changed clothes and went anyway. Caprice had to work until nine, so it was just the three of us. When we got to the hospital Mama and Karl went to Papa's room first. I paced around the waiting area. Though I was tired, I was too restless to sit.
I expanded my route to include the nurses' desk. A nurse looked up from a chart and said, "You're Mr. Skalbe's daughter, aren't you?"
I stopped pacing. "Yes."
"He's such a delightful patient, so pleasant. Such a gentleman."
I nodded. "Thanks." That was Papa, all right. When it was my turn to see him, I told him what the nurse had said.
"All day I'm surrounded by beautiful angels in white." Papa smiled, and the warmth of his smile echoed in his voice. "But I can't wait to get home to my even more beautiful wife and daughter."
"If you flatter the nurses like that, no wonder they think you're so 'pleasant,'" I teased.
"It never hurts to be nice." Papa winked at me. "And they tell me if I continue to behave myself, I can go home soon."
"Oh, Papa, that would be wonderful!"
Papa took my hand in his. "Now, Vija, you aren't working too hard, are you? You aren't having any problems, I hope."
"Everything's fine, Papa. When it comes to yard work, I had a very good teacher."
"Well, don't you worry. Soon enough I'll be up and about and back to work myself."
"Of course, Papa," I said, though I knew it would not be as soon as Papa would like. He would want to go back to work the minute he got home from the hospital.
Karl took me and Mama home, and then went to pick up Caprice from Shopsave. He said something about them going to a movie. I hadn't been to a movie in ages. I wondered what was playing. I picked up the newspaper and looked through the theater section. There were several movies that sounded interesting, but Gidget caught my attention. It was something about surfing in California. That sounded both fun and exotic to me. But it was late, and I was tired, and I hated going to the movies by myself. I decided to hit the sack.
I slipped into a cool cotton nightgown, pulled down the bedcovers, sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the phone. Should I call Nolan? Maybe ... maybe he hadn't been talking to another girl. Maybe it was all in my mind ....
Maybe he had a family emergency. Maybe that's why his line was busy last night. Maybe that's why he didn't call me. Or ... maybe he'd tried to call when we were at the hospital. Yes, maybe he had called and no one had answered and he was worried about me!
I placed my hand on the receiver of my phone. I should just pick it up. Dial Nolan's—
Rr-r-r-r-ring!
I almost fell off the bed. My heart echoed in my chest and my hand trembled as I answered the phone. "H-hello?"
"Hey, Vija. It's me."
"Nolan." Love rushed into my heart and pushed out all the anger and suspicion. Still ... I had to know. "I ... I tried to call you last night. But your line was busy."
"Oh. Yeah. Um ... uh ... when I got up this morning I noticed that it was off the hook. I must've knocked it over getting into bed or something."
"Oh, yes. I understand." Of course! Why hadn't I thought of that? Things like that happened all the time. How dumb it had been of me to get so frosted over nothing!
"I tried to call you earlier. There was no answer. Where were you, anyway?"
"At the hospital . That's why I tried to call you last night. To tell you about my father."
"Your old man? What about him?"
"He had a heart attack. That's why I was at the hospital."
"Oh. So that's it. How is he?"
"Very well. The doctors expect a full recovery." I hesitated, then said. "He can't work for a while. So I have to take over his yard work business for a few weeks."
"Well, I can't help you with that."
"Nolan!" I gave a startled gasp. "I wouldn't expect you to!"
"Okay. But that means you won't be able to go to the beach."
"Well, I can on Sundays. And ... and maybe we could meet for lunch or something during the week. I could pack a picnic—"
"That would be too rushed. You'd have to keep checking the time. Besides, your clients wouldn't like me hanging around."
"Well ... I guess some of them wouldn't."
"It's just not practical."
"You ... you're right. Of course. It wouldn't be very practical." I twisted the phone cord around my thumb. "I ... I just thought ... I just wonder ... when we'll see each other. That's all."
"Hey. I want to see you too. That's why I called earlier. I wanted to meet you at the park. But you weren't home."
"I ... I'm sorry."
"Yeah, well, I hung out with some of the guys instead. But I'm free tomorrow night too. No gig, which is a drag, but it means I can see you. Let's do something special. How 'bout a movie?"
"A movie would be wonderful!"
"I have just one rule about movies. If either one of us doesn't like it, then we leave."
"Oh." I'd never walked out of a movie. But I suppose if it was really bad, that would make sense. "Okay."
"Ben Hur is at the Monroe Theater."
"I'd like to see Gidget. It's playing here in Chatfield, and tomorrow is the last night."
"Gidget? What's that?"
"A surfing movie."
"Surfing, huh? That might be okay."
"And tomorrow is the last night," I repeated
There was a pause, then Nolan said, "All right. We'll see Gidget. Meet me at the park, and we can go from there."
"The park?" Maybe it was time to introduce Nolan to Mama, with Karl here. "How about my house instead?" I suggested ever-so-casually.
"No. Not your house. Remember, I told you I can't do family stuff."
"Of course."
The movie started at seven thirty, so we agreed to meet at the park at seven. Just before he hung up, Nolan said, "I love you," and my heart danced. I fell asleep in a sweet cloud of anticipation for tomorrow night.
Chapter Ten
The next morning I visited Papa for just a few minutes, because I had to work in Monroe and I didn't want to g
et a late start. Papa understood.
On the drive over to Monroe I had both windows of the truck unrolled and still I was broiling. The humidity felt like the steam from Mama's teakettle. It took all my willpower to drive past Hammonasett State Park. A dip in the cool salty water would have felt so good. But I had work to do.
Things went better than I expected in the morning. There was a nice breeze off of Long Island Sound. That was one advantage to working so close to the beach.
Only Mr. Parton noticed that I was working alone, or at least he was the only one to come outside and ask me about it. "Is your father taking a well-deserved vacation?"
I told him about Papa's heart attack, and explained that he would be back to work, "probably in a few weeks."
"You tell him to take it easy," Mr. Parton said. He patted my shoulder. "And you take care too."
"Thank you, Mr. Parton, I will."
By the time I finished mowing Mr. Parton's yard, it was time for lunch. I had parked on the road in the shade of big maple tree, so I sat in the truck to eat. With the shade and the breeze coming off the water, it wasn't too bad. Still I wished I could go across the street to the beach and go wading, to really cool off. But the beaches in that area were all private.
I had been in a hurry when I packed my lunch, so all I had was an apple, lemonade, and two peanut butter-and-saldskabmaize sandwiches. Mama was not a big fan of peanut butter, but I had learned to like it so she kept a jar of it around for me. I thought it worked well with the sweet-sour rye bread. Just as I bit off a huge chunk, I saw Joel's car.
He waved, pulled over and walked up to my truck. He rested his elbows on the edge of the rolled-down window. "Hi, Vija! How's your father doing?"
My mouth was sticky with the peanut butter, so I had to take a swig of lemonade before I answered. "He's getting better. The doctors say he should be able to come home soon."
"That's great." Joel nodded at the mowers in the back of the truck. "I see you've taken over the business."
"Well, I'm helping out until Papa can come back to work," I said. "I don't want him to lose any of his customers."
"Say, I can't do it this afternoon 'cause I have to drive my brother to the dentist, but maybe I could help you out? It must be a lot of work."
"That's nice of you, Joel," I said, touched by his offer. "But ... you have job at the country club."
"Yeah." Joel shrugged. "Everyone and his cousin is showing up to caddy lately. I haven't been getting that much work."
"There wouldn't be much money in it for you," I said. "And I'm doing okay so far. Thanks, anyway."
"It'd probably be as much money as I'm getting with the hours I'm working now. So if you do need any help, just whistle."
"More hours for the same money?" I laughed. "Not a good deal for you."
"Well, I'd enjoy the company more, so it'd come out even for me." Joel grinned.
"Okay, if I get desperate, I'll let you know."
"Now that's a vote of confidence!" Joel laughed.
I laughed too. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah. Well, I've got to pick up my brother," Joel said. "But remember, if you need me, call me."
"Okay." I waved as Joel drove away, then polished off my sandwiches and washed them down with lemonade. I decided to save the apple for later. I had to hurry to Mrs. Holland's house, and, besides, I'd probably be hungry again in the middle of the afternoon.
When I was halfway through mowing Mrs. Holland's yard, she came outside, the hem of her white cotton dress fluttering in the breeze. I stopped mowing so I could hear what she was saying. I hoped she was asking me to come inside for something cool to drink.
"Where's your father?" she asked.
I explained.
"Oh, that's too bad," Mrs. Holland said. "My nephew said our hedge is looking shaggy. It needs a good trim."
I swallowed a huge sigh. "We usually do it every six weeks," I said. "It's been only four weeks."
Mrs. Holland fixed her eyes on mine. "I'd like it done today."
"Of course," I said. It isn't necessary, it'll take me an hour, I have other yards to do, and I have a date tonight! But. "As soon as I finish the mowing, I'll trim the hedge."
"Good." Mrs. Holland turned on her heels and headed back to the house.
I fought an urge to mow right over her and transform her into white cotton clippings. Instead, I walked faster than usual, so I could cut some time off the mowing, and took only two minutes for my ten-minute break. Then I set up the ladders and placed the tailgate between them and started trimming the hedge. I imagined that it was Mrs. Holland's nephew's hair instead of hedge as I cut as evenly as I could and watched the leaves fly to the ground.
The rest of the afternoon I did whatever I could to make up for the time I'd had to spend trimming the hedge, and got home only twenty minutes later than I'd thought I would when I left the house that morning. But I was pooped. I stood in the shower and let the cascading water wash buckets of sweat off my body, then dried off and dressed as quickly as possible.
I'd considered wearing a dress for my movie date with Nolan. But I figured that might look suspicious. So I wore a pale yellow sleeveless blouse, white slacks, and a wide white belt. As it was, it'd taken me half the afternoon to decide how to handle the situation. I'd have to skip visiting Papa at the hospital, but I couldn't just say I was tired because I was going to be leaving the house. So, finally, I decided I would say I was going to the movies, which was true. I'd say it was the last night Gidget was playing, and I really wanted to see it. Also true. I just wouldn't say that I was going with Nolan.
I mentioned my plans in the middle of supper, saying first how much I'd like to see Papa, but …
Karl gave me a "you don't really expect me to believe that" look, but he didn't say anything.
I busied myself by cutting off a bite of sausage and stuffing it in my mouth.
"Now don't you worry about Papa," Mama said, patting my hand. "He'd want you to enjoy yourself at the movie. He knows how hard you've been working. And it won't be long before he's home."
Finally, we finished supper and did the dishes. I took extra time brushing my teeth because I wanted to wait until after Karl and Mama went to the hospital before I left to meet Nolan, just to make sure our paths wouldn't cross on the way.
As soon as Mama and Karl left, I hurried to the big maple tree at the park where I was supposed to meet Nolan. He wasn't there yet. After a few minutes, I started to worry. What if he was in an accident? How would I ever know? I paced around the tree. I walked down the path a little to look down the road and see if he was coming. Still no Nolan. I didn't know whether to be angry or scared.
I leaned against the tree, closed my eyes, and started counting. By the time I count to one hundred, Nolan will be here. It worked! At the count of ninety-seven I heard the roar of a motorcycle and opened my eyes to see him parking his bike.
Nolan looked me over from collar to sandals. "You look great," he said as he gathered me into his arms and kissed me. I forgot all about his being late. I was still savoring the sweetness of our kiss when Nolan asked, "Where's your car?"
"My brother needed it to drive my mother to the hospital." It hadn't occurred to me that not having the car might be a problem. "The theater is only a few blocks from here."
"Let's walk. My bike will be safe here." Nolan draped his arm across my shoulders and pulled me close. I felt as happy as a bee in a flower garden.
At the beginning of the movie I was worried we would have to walk out. Nolan seemed restless, shifting in his seat, checking his watch. But when the first surfing scene came on, he whispered, "Cool." He also thought The Kahuna was cool, the beach shack was cool, the luau was cool, and the beach house where Moondoggie and the Kahuna got into a fight about Gidget was cool. When a song or scene with Gidget's friends came on, Nolan would kiss me. I'd seen couples kissing at the movies, but I'd only dreamed about being part of such a couple. Now I was, and I liked it, even though I did miss parts
of the movie.
After the movie we went to Maple Shade and had ice cream cones (Nolan insisted I try maple-walnut), then strolled back to the park. "So," Nolan said, "what did you think about 'Gidget'?"
I wanted him to like my opinion, so I gathered my thoughts before I spoke. "I thought it was very good. Gidget not only learns about herself, she teaches The Kahuna about the importance of having goals—"
"I thought the surfing was cool. And living in that shack! I can see myself doing that, surfing all day, partying all night, following the waves. Not a care in the world."
"But ... but what about your singing?"
"I could sing anywhere, take my guitar anywhere." He wasn't looking at me. He was staring at something in the distance. "It'd be cool to live in California. All that sun and sand and surf."
My stomach churned. "But California is so far away ...."
Nolan stopped and stared at me. "You always have something to complain about."
"Oh, Nolan. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come across like that!" Why did I always say the wrong thing? "I... I guess I took it the wrong way."
"What else can I expect from you?" Nolan laughed, then swung me into the circle of his arms and kissed me.
A rush of relief ran through me. Nolan wasn't mad at me.
"Come on," he said, "I'll race you to the park." He took off, and I lost sight of him right away.
I ran as fast as my sandals would allow. When I got to the park, I went to the maple tree where we'd met before. But there was no sign of Nolan. It was still light out, but the sky was turning pink and it was hard to see in the shade of all the trees. I didn't know whether to call his name, or look for him, or just wait. I decided to look around.
I took a few steps down the path and glanced around. Nothing. I took a few more steps, when I heard a terrible growl and. Something jumped out at me from behind a forsythia bush!
I screamed and started to run. But something grabbed my wrist. I pulled to get away. "Help!"
I heard a low, throaty laugh.
"It's me," Nolan said, and he burst out laughing again.
"Oh, Nolan." I forced a small laugh. "You scared me!"
