Ellen found herself shaking the hand of the blonde and wondering if she were a cheerleader or something.
“Are you all moved in?” Blossom asked, looking curiously at the bags, one on the bunk, one on the floor.
“No, I have a few things at the boarding house where I’ve been living, but I’m wondering if they are going to fit,” she gestured to the cramped quarters.
“Well I don’t mind if you want to stack them up under there. I won’t be here much with practice and studies,” Blossom answered, and just then someone cleared their throat behind her by the door.
Blossom turned and smiled. “Oh Greg, come on in with those,” her voice had changed slightly, and Ellen could hear the coquettish note in her voice that she came to realize later, was Blossom’s way of getting guys to do things for her.
A large young man came through the doorway hauling a trunk and two bags. The trunk alone looked to be of some weight, but with the bags too it made quite a load. “Where do you want these?” he asked, with a dazzling smile of his own.
Seeing these two perfect specimens of humanity made Ellen feel awkward and inadequate. Here she was with her red hair and her freckles and barely coming to the blonde’s shoulder.
“Over here will be fine, thank you babe,” Blossom said, in the same voice. “Hun, I want you to meet my roommate. Av…um…Ellen, this is my boyfriend Greg. Greg this is Ellen,” she said, in a nice and unaffected voice.
“Hi,” Ellen said, and was surprised when Greg shook her hand.
“Where ya from?” he asked, noticing her accent.
“Oklahoma,” she answered, and waited for some smart-alek comment. She’d gotten a few at the restaurant over the summer.
“Cool, we have some great players from Oklahoma this year. Maybe you know them?” he named some guys and Ellen politely shook her head to the negative.
“Well, you will have to come to some games and meet them. They’d love to hear some down-home voices I’m sure,” he said.
Ellen could see why Blossom liked the guy. He was genuinely nice and for that alone she found him suspicious.
“I’m a cheerleader,” Blossom put in, confirming Ellen’s suspicions. “And I hope to make the squad so I can see Greg at the games. You can come and watch with me if I don’t make it.”
“I’m sure you will,” Ellen said generously. She felt out of place already. “I should really go and get the rest of my things,” she said to escape.
“Can we help?” Blossom asked.
“Well, I have to go to the boarding house and get them, and I’m sure it will take a couple of trips with my bike.”
“You’re riding a bicycle?” she asked impressed.
“Um, no. I have a motorcycle and it has a side car,” she clarified.
“I have a truck, would that help get it in one trip?” Greg offered.
“I don’t wish to impose,” Ellen quickly said, she was feeling trapped and not used to someone being nice to her like this.
“It’s no bother. We’re gonna be roommates and let’s hope we can be friends,” Blossom put in and reaching over to the desk for her key, she quickly walked across the small room for Ellen’s and handed it to her. “Come on; let’s go finish it up for you.”
Ellen found herself in between the two of them as they told her they were both from San Diego and they had come to UCLA because Greg got a football scholarship. The fact that it was an awesome school besides was a bonus for both of them. Apparently they had their life already mapped out for them, including marriage, and two point five children.
With the three of them hoisting the trunks, boxes, and few odds and ends they got it loaded in Greg’s truck in no time, Ellen turned in her key to her landlady, and they were soon back at the campus.
“You sure you don’t mind me storing this crap here?” Ellen drawled, and then remembering her accent she flushed. Red skin on a redhead was not attractive and she knew she got blotchy.
“I’m planning on spending as much time with Greg as I can at his dorm. Our parents insisted we be in different buildings even though this one is co-ed. I don’t mind at all. Here, let’s put those under here by my desk,” Blossom offered, as they carried one of the loads up together.
“What is all this?” Greg finally asked
“It’s memories. There was a tornado, and this is almost all that is left of the house I grew up in,” Ellen told him, and then flushed. She didn’t mention the storage unit or the people stealing from her.
“Oh wow, how’d your folks make out?” he asked. There weren’t tornadoes too often in Southern California, so he couldn’t relate.
“My mom died when I was young, but the tornado took my Daddy,” she told him without emotion. She didn’t want people feeling sorry for her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, feeling immediately contrite.
“Don’t be,” she reassured him, and dropped the subject.
They soon had her stuff in the room and she placed it as unobtrusively as she could pack it in the small room. Without Blossom giving up some of her space though it would have been impossible. “Thank you,” she said repeatedly to the blonde, and helped her unpack a little after Greg left them.
“He seems nice,” Ellen said, to make conversation. Alone with Blossom now, she felt a little intimidated by the good looks and charm of the girl.
“Oh he is. We’ve been together for two years. My mom said we should date others in college, but I’m sure he is the one,” she gushed. She already had three pictures on her desk of him. One with the two of them, one of him playing football, and one that Ellen was sure was his high school graduation picture. There hadn’t been any money for one of her from a professional photographer so the yearbook contained one taken by a school photographer.
They chatted and unpacked and locked up their room together as they made their way to a mandatory orientation for freshman. It was nice to see the admiring looks that Blossom got, but Ellen was amused that they didn’t see her at all. A long time later they were released from the hall where the orientation had been held and the same phenomena happened with people seeing Blossom and not seeing Ellen.
“Want to go for a ride in it?” Ellen asked Blossom, as she showed her the motorcycle.
“Oh no, I’d be much too afraid with all the traffic around here,” she protested.
“It’s really a lot of fun,” she assured her.
“Thanks, I should get to Greg’s. He’s expecting me,” she waved as she walked away.
“Whose bike is that?” a slightly aggressive voice asked from behind her and Ellen jumped a foot.
“It’s mine, why?” she returned, in an equally aggressive tone.
“Cause it’s friggin’ awesome that’s why,” the guy answered, changing his tone, as he genuinely admired the old bike. Walking around it he studied it from every angle. He started asking a bunch of technical questions and Ellen kept answering, “I don’t know,” until he finally asked exasperated, “What do you know?”
She laughed. “I know I got a good deal on the bike. The guy needed to sell it because his wife was having a baby and he needed the cash. I needed a reliable ride around town and it’s fun.”
“Wait until the rainy season,” he warned, as he smiled at her in a friendly way. “I’m Ryan by the way,” he said as he held out a hand.
“Would you like to take a ride?” she offered, and was surprised at her generosity, but he seemed to genuinely like the bike and it didn’t hurt to make friends, she hoped. Blossom and Greg had been very friendly and that surprised her too.
“Oh could I?” he asked almost reverently. “I get shotgun,” he said playfully, and she frowned until he indicated the tube sticking up that was meant to carry a machine gun, but now was welded shut.
She laughed and pulled out her keys.
“Do you have helmets?” he asked.
She pulled up the seat and handed him an aviator’s helmet. It had the big goggles, and he loved it instantly. She pulled out another one for herself. She ha
d purchased both from a surplus store she had found.
“These are awesome,” he said reverently. “And, totally useless if we crash,” he added with a laugh.
She joined in the laughter, and had to agree. Starting the bike up she slowly backed it out of the stall she had parked in. Despite the fact that it was a motorcycle, because of the side car she took up an entire stall. She loved the side car though as it allowed her to carry more things in it when she needed. She had thought of getting a dog and getting him a hat like hers, but children’s size, so he could ride in the car with her. But what would she do with a dog while she was in school?
She roared off down the street, the bike was quite loud, but Ryan didn’t care. It was fun and he was having a marvelous time. Kid’s yelled and pointed and some hooted and hollered at the two of them. They made quite a scene. She drove for about a half an hour before Ryan pointed to a coffee shop and indicated they should stop. She’d been about to turn around and head back to the school in a roundabout way, as she had mapped out the school many times and knew a lot of the streets by now. She did however nod and head for the parking lot before turning off the bike. The silence, such as it was on the busy LA thoroughfare, was mindboggling after the roar of the bike.
“That is one sweet ride,” Ryan complimented her on her choice. “How’d you find it?” he asked as he gingerly got out of the side car. He rubbed his aching backside, it wasn’t a very comfortable side car, but it was fun.
“I worked in this place and overheard two of the guys talking about it and asked for the guy’s number who was selling it. He showed me how to drive it, made me promise to let him be my mechanic on it if I needed it, and also made me promise to sell it back to him if I had to ever sell it. His wife wasn’t as pleased, but it’s been fun, and it was a helluva deal,” she told him.
“It’s sweet,” he said, as he opened the door to the diner and they went in.
“Coffee?” the waitress asked them, as they sat at the counter.
“I’ll just have water,” Ellen responded. She found it so odd that in California you had to ask for water for your table, but had been told it was because they were always in a drought. They didn’t waste the water that was the norm at some restaurants, so many patrons just simply didn’t drink it and it was put down the drain. You had to ask for it.
“Can’t you afford something more?” Ryan asked her thoughtfully.
“I watch my pennies,” she assured him. The check from the co-op for her father’s crops would be due in about a month and if she could just hold out until then she could budget for the year. The school had helped her apply for federal loans, but she had to pay some of it herself too.
“If you want I can pay…” he began, but she cut him off.
“No, I’m good, really,” she assured him, holding her hand up. “I’m just a bit dehydrated,” she drawled.
“Where you from?” he asked with a smile, as the waitress brought him a cup of coffee and her the glass of water.
“Oklahoma,” she told him, and waited for some teasing.
“That’s a bit of a trip,” he said.
“Well where are you all from?” she asked.
“Michigan,” he told her with a grin.
“That’s an even farther trip,” she laughed at him.
“Yep, California is a trip all right,” he sugared and creamed his coffee and took a sip of the hot beverage.
She didn’t say anything in response. She wasn’t sure she had anything to say. The awkward silence stretched out for a moment between them.
“So what brings you to Southern California?” he asked, making an effort.
“School,” she answered, and then laughed at the incongruity of it.
He laughed with her. “I know that silly, but why? Are you studying something in particular that only UCLA would offer?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m not sure what I want to study. For now I’m taking general courses.”
“Good idea. Gives you time to decide.”
Making an effort to actually be pleasant, she asked him, “What about you? Why did you choose UCLA?”
“Ah, they have movie studies and other film school courses,” he said excitedly.
“You want to be in movies?” she asked surprised.
“No, I want to be behind the camera. I want to direct. I want to say, ‘action, cut, print,’” he expanded, gesturing with his hands dramatically. “I also want to do something with computers,” he finished almost shamefully.
“Computers?” she asked surprised. “Like what?”
“I have no idea, but you can see the future is computers. Someday I hope to own one!” he said excitedly again.
She laughed imagining the computer that might fit into her whole dorm room. “That would take up a lot of room. You are going to need a big office!”
He shook his head. “No, they have computers they are calling home computers now. Someday, everyone will have one,” he told her earnestly.
“Yeah right, and flying cars,” she joked remembering B movies she had seen. “What? You think it will be like Star Trek?” she mentioned a popular show from the seventies.
“Did you ever see Star Trek the movie?” he asked her. “It was out in ‘79!” he enthused.
She shook her head. Seeing a movie with her father being as tight fisted as he had been had been a pipe dream. The only movies she saw were on television. She knew of Star Trek from the old black and white TV they had in the living room. She could only watch it though when wrestling wasn’t on or her father wasn’t around. Gawd how she had hated watching him watch wrestling, like it was real or something!
“I’m sure we can find some theater still showing it somewhere,” he told her. “You have got to see it, it’s awesome!”
“You really think technology will go that far?” she asked with a tone of skepticism.
“Yeah, someday. I want to be a part of that!”
“And what, film it?” He sounded like a little boy who was so enthused by the idea he had no concept of the reality of what it would take.
“Maybe. I don’t know. But meanwhile, I’m in school, so I’ll take what classes they offer and see what comes up. Hey, you almost done with that,” he gestured to her water as he slurped at his coffee trying to finish it rapidly.
“Um yeah, you anxious to get back to school?” she quickly sipped her water watching him.
“I want to show you something,” he told her.
They were soon on their way and he looked at a phone book to find whatever he was looking for and directed her to the street. They were quickly at a Radio Shack and went inside.
“What is this?” she asked, wondering if she had picked up a real weirdo from the school.
“I want to show you something,” he repeated, as he opened the door for her.
Inside he directed her to one side of the store where a couple of machines stood on heavy duty platforms. They had keyboards and small television screens. On the side of each of them were two identical slots.
“These are personal computers. They’re built by Texas Instruments for Radio Shack,” he told her enthusiastically.
“Can I help you?” a salesperson came up to ask them.
“Could you demonstrate these please?” Ryan asked.
He showed them how by putting a floppy piece of plastic, called a floppy disc into the slot on the right of the machine which he called a disc drive he could play games. Most of them were typed out and he typed rapidly as he played, showing them how the machine worked.
“That’s a pretty expensive game piece,” Ellen commented quietly to Ryan, as he watched raptly on the screen.
“Yeah but you can also type out reports and things,” he said without taking his eyes from the wonderful machine.
“That’s a pretty expensive typewriter,” she commented again with a grin. It was pretty neat and it was probably the smallest computer she had seen. Heck, it was the only computer she had ever seen outside of televi
sion or history books. Some computers she had seen pictures of took up entire rooms, even warehouses!
“Yeah, but technology is coming far and fast and who knows where it will take us,” he said reverently.
“You can even send messages to other computers,” the salesman told them. He knew they couldn’t afford the two-thousand dollar machine, they were too young, but it was fun to play on them and show them off.
“But the computer is right there,” Ellen reasoned, pointing to the one sitting on the other stand a few feet away.
“I’m talking around the world,” the salesman pointed out.
“That sounds expensive,” she said wonderingly.
“If you have a phone line, you can dial up on a modem, and send a message to another person on their computer around the world,” he told her.
“Uh huh,” she said, not understanding a single world of what he said.
“Thank you so much for showing us the computer,” Ryan said to the salesman and hurried Ellen outside.
“That was a neat toy,” she told him. “But I’ve seen advertising for the Commodore 64 and you can play more games on it!”
“That is so much more than a game,” he said exasperatedly and shook his head as he put his helmet and goggles on. “You’ll see. Computers are the wave of the future!”
CHAPTER FIVE
LIVING
During the next year Ellen found Ryan to be an annoying friend. She was grateful for his and Blossom’s and even Greg’s friendship as she navigated her freshman year. It was new, it was exciting, and she even felt homesick which surprised her. It helped to have her things around; occasionally she opened the trunk to look at the pictures her mother had treasured. The ones of her growing up brought on the sweetest nostalgia as she looked at her mother in happier times.
She had to get the trunks and boxes out of her dorm room though, she found friends of Blossom’s and Greg’s pawing through them once and laughing as their sticky fingers went through them. Her anger surprised her and she vowed to never behave like her father again. She knew that anger, that uncontrollable rage, and it frightened her to find she had it within her. They shrugged, apologized, and wrote it off to her being a redhead. The next day though Greg and Blossom helped her find a storage locker near the campus where she could store her things. They were apologetic, but all she wanted from them as she was still angry, was the use of Greg’s truck once again. She had learned, painfully learned, to be a minimalist at school.
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