Chapter Four
Aunt Florence
My mom’s sister, Aunt Florence, lived with us until two and a half years ago. She decided on her thirty seventh birthday she was ready to move into an apartment all by herself. To tell you the truth I thought it was about time but I just smiled and said, “Good luck, Aunt Florence.”
Well, one thing led to another, as my mom would say, and Aunt Florence met Mike in her apartment building. He was really nice. He liked Aunt Florence and she liked him so six months later they got married. I was in the wedding and everything. I wore a long, light blue dress and had my thick, wild hair fixed at the hairdresser’s. I went to get my hair done with my mom, who was the matron of honor, and Aunt Florence, who was the bride. Then we went to St. Anastasia’s Church for the wedding. They took so many pictures that I actually got tired of smiling. I was afraid I was going to wake up the morning after the wedding with a permanent smile on my face.
The reception was at the St. James Hotel and we had a great meal. My mom was so happy she couldn’t stop crying the whole day. She said things like “I never thought this would happen” and “She looks so happy.” Then she’d burst into tears again.
Aunt Florence did look happy, there was no question about that, and so did Mike. Gramps and my dad got teary a couple of times so I guess I was the only member of the McGiver family who was dry-eyed at Aunt Florence’s wedding.
The next thing we knew Aunt Florence announced she was expecting a baby. The tears flowed in the McGiver family again. Gramps kept blowing his nose, wiping his eyes, and saying, “Are you sure?” and “Congratulations.” Then he’d pump Mike’s hand and hug Aunt Florence.
Anyway, a little more than a year after the wedding, on March sixteenth, little Rosemary Colette was born. It’s a date I’ll never forget because Aunt Florence and Mike came to my championship basketball game. Aunt Florence yelled, clapped, cheered, and screamed. Well, maybe she was so enthusiastic that her baby decided she wanted to see Aunt Florence for herself. On the way home, Aunt Florence told Mike it was time to go to the hospital. Rosemary Colette was born the day after St. Anastasia won the city championship.
Rosie is cute as can be, especially when she wobbles across the room and everybody claps for her. Then she stops and claps too. So pretty soon the whole house is clapping and smiling. Gramps always has his arms open wide for Rosie. He sweeps her up and says, “How come I’m so lucky that I have a little friend like Rosie?”
I do some babysitting for Aunt Florence and I don’t mind for the most part because Rosie is so cute. But the thing that bugs me no end is that whether I babysit for two hours or five hours the payment is always the same – one dollar.
I swore the last time I babysat that was it. I was there from seven o’clock to midnight. Aunt Florence gave me the usual one dollar. I was burning up, believe me. My face was hot. She thought twice about it, I guess. She reached back in her purse and pulled out an extra quarter. Don’t be so generous, I thought.
The next morning, I told my mom the story of the dollar twenty five cents. “Anyway, Mom. I’m through. No more babysitting for Aunt Florence.”
“I thought you liked little Rosie.”
“Of course I like Rosie. She’s darling. But I don’t like turning down other jobs where I would make more.” I needed to make money if I was going to have some of the new clothes I wanted.
“It doesn’t hurt you, Colette. You’re helping her. And she’s family,” my mom said.
“I know she’s family. That’s why I’m doing it.”
“She doesn’t work as many hours at the hospital as she used to and the house costs too.”
“You’ve told me that before.”
“Well, money might be tight.”
“Mom, Aunt Florence is cheap. Really cheap.” “Remember, Colette, she’s had kind of a sad life.”
That was my mom’s ace. She wanted me to feel sorry for her sister. Three years ago I found out there were two family secrets. Gramps told me about my Uncle Daniel, who was killed in the Korean War. Evidently, he was Aunt Florence’s best friend.
After I heard about Uncle Daniel, Aunt Florence asked me to go to St. Paul with her. We had lunch at the River Room in Dayton’s. It was great. Then we went to a place called the Monument where she told me about having a baby when she was eighteen. She named her son, Daniel, and gave him up for adoption. I was shocked, to say the least.
After I got over my shock, I was excited to have a cousin. I wanted to meet him. Aunt Florence contacted the adoption agency and Daniel responded to her letter. They met each other in St. Paul. Then he came to Red Wing to meet the family. Daniel and I discussed basketball and we kind of hit it off. I asked if I could write to him while he studied at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He said yes so I’ve written to him for three years. Summer and Christmas vacation he still comes to Red Wing to see Gramps, Aunt Florence, and the rest of us.
I thought over what my mom said about Aunt Florence. “Aunt Florence has Mike and Rosie now so her life isn’t so sad.”
“That’s true. But...”
“No buts. I’m done.” I got up from the table. “I thought the past was over. That’s what you always tell me.”
“We’ll have to discuss this later.”
“Much later.” I left the kitchen. I wasn’t getting anywhere with my mom. I didn’t like to be rude but I had a lot on my mind right now. Sally’s revelation about Jake had certainly given us something to talk about. I hoped Sally knew what she was doing.
Chapter Five
Sally’s Date
Sally and I talked all week about her supposed date with Jake. At school, she told him she was going to the movie on Friday night and so was I. He said he’d see her there.
Sally tried fixing her hair differently. There wasn’t much you could do with the shag style other than fluff it up a little bit. She asked my opinion over and over. I told her she looked fine. Then I told her she looked great. She finally stopped asking.
The plan was to have Mrs. Reynolds drop Sally and me off at the movie theater at seven o’clock. The movie started at seven thirty. My mom would pick us up at nine forty five. Lots of people at school had seen The Poseidon Adventure. Everyone thought it was scary.
My mom dropped me off at Sally’s house at six forty five. She talked the whole time in the car about how she couldn’t wait for spring to actually be here, how big I was getting, and how she hoped it was a good movie. I didn’t have to say a word other than uh huh.
“Bye, Mom,” I said. “Thanks for the ride.”
“I’ll pick you up at nine forty five unless I hear from you. Do you have a dime?”
“I do.” My mom always made sure I had a dime for the pay phone in case there was an emergency. I kept it in a separate place in my wallet so I wouldn’t spend it.
Sally opened the door as I was walking up the steps to the house. “Colette, hurry up.” She rushed me up to her room. “Just a minute.” She did her usual search in the closet and under the bed. “All clear,” she said.
“Sal, what should I do now?”
“Nothing yet. I’ll let you know at the theater. I think you should wait until we decide where we’re sitting and then sit in front of Jake and me,” Sally said. “And I have to put on my eye shadow in the bathroom.”
“Okay.” I still wasn’t sure about the whole thing but I wanted to be there for my best friend.
“I owe you, Colette. I can’t thank you enough.” She hugged me tight. “C’mon, let’s go. I don’t want to be late.”
Mrs. Reynolds drove us to the theater. We got our tickets first and then Sally dragged me into the bathroom. She had the bluest eyes so she pulled out some light blue eye shadow. She started to swipe it on. Pretty soon her eyelids were covered with blue powder. “Is this too much?” Sally asked.
To tell you the truth I thought it was a lot but I didn’t want to spoil it for her. “I think it’s perfect.”
“Okay, I’ll put this away.�
� Sally put the eye shadow in her purse and pulled out mascara. She flicked at her lashes with the mascara brush. She had long, thick eyelashes but the ends were light. The mascara darkened them up immediately. She reached into her purse and out came some blush. She brushed the pink color under her cheekbones.
“Are you going home like that?”
“No. As soon as the movie is over, I’ll come in here and remove the eye makeup and blush.” She searched in her purse. Out came a small jar of cold cream. “This is what my mom uses.” She set the cold cream carefully in her purse. “One more thing.” Sally pulled out red lipstick. It was really red. She outlined her upper lips and her lower lips. She pursed them together, kind of rubbing them back and forth. “Hand me some toilet paper, would you?”
“Here.” I handed her a wad of toilet paper.
She took the wad and put it between her lips, then moved her mouth in and out. She looked in the mirror for the tenth time. She fluffed her hair. She made a kissing sound to the mirror. I guess she was ready.
We went back to the lobby. Sally craned her neck as she looked around. I alternated between looking at the popcorn and looking at Sally. No Jake so far.
“Well, we’re a little early,” Sally said. Sally edged closer to the door. She fidgeted around on one foot, then the other, then back to the first. She reminded me of little Rosie waiting for Gramps to pick her up.
I was starting to think that maybe Jake wasn’t going to show up. I bought some popcorn and root beer because the movie started in five minutes. Usually Sally liked to sit in the theater for a while before the movie started. I did too.
I walked over to Sally. “Sal, I’m going into the theater.”
“What? You can’t.”
“Why not? The movie starts in four minutes.”
“I know. But you said you’d go with me.”
“To the movie. I actually want to see the movie.” I walked toward the theater.
“Colette, please.” Sally had been staring out the window with her fingers in her mouth.
I turned. I had never had a fight with Sally and I didn’t want to now. I decided right then and there that my friendship with her was more important than getting a good seat. “Okay, I’ll wait with you,” I said. I took a bite of popcorn and a drink of root beer. I looked out the window.
Jake was getting out of his blue 1963 Ford Fairlane. He had his own car which was really unusual. He sauntered over and opened the lobby door. No hurry, I guess. Sally had a look on her face I had never seen before. It was a cross between relief and adoration.
“Hi, Sally,” Jake said. “Should we get some popcorn and pop?” He nodded toward me.
“The movie has already started,” I said.
Neither one of them said anything. They went over to the counter to order the popcorn. Sally was giggling happily every time Jake looked at her. I heard him say, “How about a bucket of popcorn and two glasses of pop?”
“Whatever you say,” Sally said.
“Oh, there’s Mike.” Jake waved his hand. “Over here,” he yelled.
Mike walked over and said, “Hey, man.” Sally looked puzzled by the presence of Mike. She stood right next to Jake.
I guess no one but me cared that the movie had started. I was trying to be patient but since I’m not the most patient person in the world, it was more than hard. Hopefully, the previews were still running so we wouldn’t miss the beginning of the movie. I had no idea where I was going to sit. The good seats in the middle were probably taken. If there were any left, I’d have to crawl over people and they didn’t like that. I didn’t either. It was embarrassing.
Sally walked away from me. “Aren’t you going to come, Colette? Hurry up,” she twittered.
There was no point in saying anything. Sally had already turned away from me. I wouldn’t make a scene in public so I just tagged along behind like a puppy dog. We walked into the theater and it was really dark. An ad was running about getting popcorn, candy, and pop and then putting the trash in a wastebasket. That meant the previews of other movies were already finished. The next thing was the movie itself.
Jake was unconcerned about all the people staring at us as we tried to find seats. He pointed to a space with two seats along the side. I stood in the aisle holding my popcorn and pop.
The movie started.
“Would you sit down?” Someone said.
“Or leave,” someone else barked.
“SHH,” many people said.
“Mike, why don’t you sit here with Sally,” Jake said.
“C’mon, Colette, I’ll go with you.”
I didn’t have time to react since I felt the whole theater was looking at us. I walked up to the front, my least favorite spot, and saw two seats right in the middle. I said, “Excuse me. Excuse me.” I sat down. I leaned over to put my pop under my seat and my popcorn spilled all over the man next to me. He jumped up to brush the popcorn on the floor. “I don’t believe you,” he said. “Why don’t you come on time?”
“Will you be quiet?” A woman behind us said.
“Shut up,” several people snarled.
I heard the crunch of popcorn being stepped on. I wanted to crawl in a hole but I didn’t dare move. There would be a riot and then the police would be escorting me outside. Best to get as small as possible. I scrunched down in my seat.
Jake sat down next to me on the other side but not before he said, “Relax, everybody.”
He sure had a lot of confidence in himself. I had to admit that I liked him sitting next to me. After all, he was the cutest boy in the school and a great left-handed pitcher. I wondered what Sally was doing with Mike.
I didn’t wonder for long because the movie was really interesting. People were in the dining room of the ship, SS Poseidon, celebrating New Year’s Eve. The scene changed to the captain talking on the phone. He was being warned about a huge wave. The wave filled the screen and hit the ship. The whole ship turned upside down. It was really scary. The people who were still alive had to swim to the top which was really the bottom. Only six were rescued. I was exhausted by the end of the movie.
I decided right then and there that I would never take a ship across the ocean. In fact, I was glad we lived nowhere near an ocean. Minnesota was in the perfect spot.
“Good movie, huh?” Jake said.
“Yeah, it was great,” I said. I started walking toward the aisle. Jake stopped me.
“Colette, I want to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“I’m looking for a job. Could you tell your dad that?”
“That you’re looking for a job?”
“No, that I’d like to work at your store.”
“I don’t know if he needs anyone.”
“What about stocking? I’ve done that at night at the grocery store.”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you ask him? You won’t regret it.” Jake flashed his smile at me.
I stood in the aisle, trying to see Sally but there were too many people. Jake was behind me.
“I’ve got to catch up with Mike. Bye, Colette.” Jake said. He pushed his way through the crowd, saying “Excuse me.”
To tell you the truth, I wasn’t in any hurry. A lot of people knew I was the one who had been late and caused the ruckus. I wasn’t about to push and shove my way. Anyway, Sally was going to pelt me with questions the minute she saw me.
Sally had her hands on her hips. Jake was nowhere to be seen and neither was Mike. I had known Sally for as long as I could remember. I knew a mad face when I saw one.
“Hi, Sal,” I said. “Wasn’t the movie great? I sure don’t want to go on a ship soon. Or ever. I’m glad...”
“What are you glad about? That you were sitting with Jake?” Sally snapped the words one after another.
“No. I was going to say I was glad I live in Minnesota. Away from the ocean.” I couldn’t say I was glad I sat next to Jake but I wasn’t sad either. Maybe she would drop it since it really wasn’t m
y fault.
“Did you tell him to sit next to you?”
“You were right there. He’s the one who sat next to me.” I wanted to move out of the aisle because people were looking at us again.
“This was my date and you wrecked it,” Sally said. Her eyes narrowed until all I saw was her light blue eye shadow.
“What?”
“Just what I said. I saw you talking when the lights came up.”
“He was asking me something.”
“Did you set up another date with him?”
“No, I wasn’t on a date with him. And I don’t want to date him. If you want to know the truth, he asked me if my dad was hiring at the store.”
“I don’t believe you.” Her fists were so tight at her thighs that I could see white knuckles.
“It’s the truth.”
“Then why were you smiling at each other?”
Of course, he was smiling. He always did. And of course, I smiled back. It would have been impossible not to with his perfect white teeth and all. “I didn’t know I was smiling.” My face felt hot. Oh no. I hoped I wasn’t blushing. Sally told me I blushed more easily than anyone she knew. I blamed it on my wild, reddish-brown hair and white skin.
“That’s all I need to know,” Sally said. We were out of the movie theater and Sally headed to the bathroom. I started to go in with her. “I thought you were my best friend, Colette. Please don’t come in here with me.”
I stood open-mouthed. I hoped my mom would be on time because I was getting nervous. I really didn’t know what I had done.
Sally stomped out of the bathroom. Her eye makeup was gone, as was the blush on her cheeks. There was a little lipstick left on her bottom lip but I didn’t dare say anything. She broke the silence. “You’re not going to apologize, are you?”
“For what?”
“For stealing my date.”
“I wasn’t on a date with Jake. He’s the one who sat by me.” I wanted to say, you made me come with you and lie to your mom. Then it wasn’t what you imagined.
“Right. I’m going to look for your mom,” Sally said. “By the way, Colette, please don’t call me this weekend.”
It Starts With a Lie Page 2
