by Ed Nelson
When the noise died down I went back down stairs and called Janet Huber. She wanted to know all about my golf match. It felt good to tell her we had all won. I got to the main reason for my call. I told her about talking to the taxi company and ending up with a car and driver at our disposal for the evening.
She was ecstatic, but I opened up a can of worms when I told her it would hold three couples. That led to many questions about the limousine. Being the worldly person I am, I referred to it as the limo, as the conversation progressed. She adapted quickly.
She told me that she and a friend would be checking out this limo tomorrow. I was able to tell her our dinner reservations were confirmed at the country club. She told me to reconfirm for a party of six. I asked her who the others would be. She countered with orders to find out if my friends Tom and Bill had dates and let her know by noon tomorrow! What am I getting into?
That night I was reading a story about families who moved to California from the dustbowl of Oklahoma during the 1930’s. It was a hard working life but it seemed simpler and easier than mine.
Sunday morning after getting my exercises out of the way and cleaned up, I rode my bike the half hour ride out to the country club. It didn’t take long because I could really roll down the hill on Sandusky Street. Coming back up would be different.
Coach Stone had talked to Mr. Collins about my problems with sand traps. After several hours of work, I no longer felt they were the work of the devil, just one of his lesser demons. Every time I hit one that was buried in damp sand it felt like I was going to send it a mile. Instead they plopped nicely on the green.
I also learned to hate the way sand spread out when you hit the ball and would end up in your eyes, nose and ears. I decided right then and there to quit hitting the ball into sand traps. I’m sure many other golfers made the same decision, and failed as miserably as I have.
I stopped in at the restaurant front desk and told Kathy I would like to increase my party to six. That wasn’t a problem. The fact her name badge said, ‘Kathy’ is the only reason I knew her name. She asked how I would be paying for all the dinners. I told her cash after dinner.
She explained that the club host (me) was responsible for the check, and they weren’t set up to take cash. It would normally be billed to the members account. Since I was a courtesy member I didn’t have an account.
This was all surprising to me. I thought it would be like a regular restaurant where you paid after the meal. She suggested I talk to Mr. Hastings the club manager.
She led me to his office and explained the situation. He was very helpful. He first congratulated me on the victory over Urbana. He had already called his counterpart at the 4C’s to rub it in.
He told me that a party of six with no alcohol could expect to spend about four dollars a person. If I could pay fifteen dollars up front I could then pay the balance later. Fortunately no tips were allowed in the restaurant, so the math would be simple.
At this point I didn’t think I had any choice so I gave him the money and he wrote me a receipt. I asked him if something happened and we couldn’t make it what would happen. He told me that I would get a complete refund, if not all of us made it to dinner I would be charged only for what was on the check.
As I was pedaling the long ride home I considered how lucky it was that I had stopped in today to make the reservations, it would have been an embarrassing disaster to have the payment question brought up after dinner. I could see this social stuff could get complicated and that I would have to check things out before committing in the future.
While I was on the subject of payment, I added it up and realized that I had spent almost two hundred and fifty dollars since school had started. I hoped that reward money from Texas came through before I was broke. I was so busy thinking about this that I hardly noticed the long bike ride up hill.
Chapter 22
When I got home I walked over to Tom and Bill’s, my legs were killing me from the ride. Their families were up and I was welcomed. At Tom’s we talked on his front porch, when I asked him if he had a date for homecoming he said, “No, but I would love to go with Tracy Gallagher.”
“Did she say no?”
“I haven’t asked her.”
“Oh, then she probably won’t go with you.”
“I know, I am a real Melvin when it comes to girls.”
“If you found out a girl would like to go with you, would you ask her?”
“Well yeah, I would ask her if she wasn’t a skag.”
“That’s what I needed to know.”
“Wait what’s going on?”
“I am just following orders from Janet Huber, my date for Homecoming.”
“Wow you have a date with Janet, you lucky dog.”
At Bill’s house it was different. I was invited in by his Mom. What a change from a week ago. I think she was trying to make up. When it was apparent that she wasn’t leaving I went ahead and asked Bill if he had a date for homecoming, but before he could open his mouth.
His Mom said, “No he hasn’t, does some girl want him to ask her?”
There must be a Handbook for Girls.
“Not yet Ma’am, I was supposed to find out if he had a date. I think things are in progress.”
In the way of Mom’s and Mum’s everywhere she got the details out of me in short order. She thought it would be a nice evening if it could be brought together. Poor Bill just sat there.
After his Mother had decided she had all the information available I was allowed to leave. After I was out the door I realized that Bill had never said a word.
After lunch Dad and I went to the house on Detroit Street and worked for several hours. We managed to move the bathtub to take the rotten floor boards out. Now, Dad knew what he faced. He would buy the lumber to repair the floor and new linoleum. He intended to do it tomorrow, Monday, if he didn’t get a call to work.
We had moved the bath tub an inch at a time. Those cast iron tubs must have weighed three hundred pounds. It didn’t help that the clawed feet on the tub kept catching and hanging up on the rotten floor boards. While we were moving it I thought about putting a shower attachment on the tub. It would have to attach to the current faucet. It would go straight up for about four feet then have a curved neck so the shower head would spray out at an angle instead of straight down on your head.
There were several issues to overcome. Now there would have to be framework to hold a shower curtain around the whole tub, like at our new home, or there would be a mess.
Also it was critical that the shower head be aimed just right. I wondered if they made adjustable shower heads, I know the one at home wasn’t.
By the time we had finished, I got home just in time for a call from Janet, wanting to know why I hadn’t let her know yet about Tom and Bill’s date status. I had forgotten all about calling her.
I let her know that neither had a date but that Tom would really like to go with Tracy Gallagher, but didn’t have the nerve to ask her.
She thought for a minute and said, “That will work, I will call Tina who knows Tracy pretty well and find out if she would go with him.”
Now I know why men don’t have a chance.
I thought I had gotten off, from forgetting to let her know, about Tom and Bill’s availability. I quickly understood the old joke of, ‘You’re right, I’m wrong, I’m sorry dear.’ She wasn’t really a pain but it had gotten to the point that she had to make a lot happen in a short time to bring everything together. All I wanted to do was go to the homecoming dance.
She let me know that she and Nancy Sparks had gone to the taxi company and checked out the limo. They both thought it was really neat. I thought that I knew who Bill’s date would be.
Dinner was a lot calmer than last night and there didn’t seem to be any friction between Mum and Dad. Denny and Eddie both kept their mouths shut and ate. Mary was funny.
She offered to save one of her teeth from the tooth fairy, so he could replace his c
hipped tooth. It was so sincere that no one cracked a smile.
Mum wanted to know where we were on the homecoming dance. When she found out about Tom and Bill, she said she had better talk to their mothers and Janet’s. I swear Patton had it easier.
That night I finished up the story on the migrant workers during the depression. After finishing it, I realized that I had it pretty good. I dozed off thinking about getting a money order, checking out shower heads, doing whatever Janet required, and golf practice.
I had just about dropped off when I realized I had better get my suit down to my Uncle Gene’s drycleaner tomorrow. Bell Cleaners was next to our bank, but it meant I had to come home tomorrow before going to the bank.
Cripes it struck me. I had golf practice after school. I wouldn’t be able to get to the dry cleaner or the bank. I would have to ask dad to do it. The easiest thing I had going was my school work.
Chapter 23
My mind was racing as soon as my alarm clock went off. My life was getting so complicated. There were so many details to handle, none of them hard, just so many. I literally raced through my morning exercises, running then showering. I had a busy day ahead. Dressing in my normal chino’s and cotton plaid long sleeve shirt I got ready for a busy day.
At breakfast I bit the bullet.
“I need to get my suit dry cleaned and buy a money order, but I have golf practice. Could you do it for me, Dad?”
After taking a sip of his black coffee he replied, “I will have time, I have to go downtown and rent a steamer to peel a lot of the old wall paper off the living room walls on Detroit Street. How much do you want the money order for?”
“Eleven dollars,” I said while looking at Mum out of the corner of my eye.
She was busy buttering toast, but she turned around quickly.
“What is the money order for?” she asked quietly.
“For an industrial dryer for my hair, I saw one at the gold mine in California. It will prevent me from catching my death.”
“Is it like the ones at the beauty parlor?”
“Oh no, it is handheld. At least the barrel is that the hot air comes out of. I didn’t get that close of a look at the mine, so I don’t know how big the heater and motor are. It gives the RPM of the motor and watts of the heater, but they really don’t mean anything to me. The total weight of the unit isn’t included.”
She surprised me with, “Well if it works it will be God sent around here.”
I didn’t push my luck on that subject any further. I had the money ready and gave it to dad. My suit was rolled up in a bag for him to take to my Uncle Gene’s Bell Cleaners.
“Thanks Dad, this will help a lot.”
He smiled as he said, “We have to have you looking good for your first date.”
He just had to say that, Mum now followed up.
“I have talked to Janet’s Mum. Today the dates for Tom and Bill will be made ticky boo.”
At times Mum talked real funny I think she meant everything was coming together.
On our walk to school Tom and Bill pressed me for what I knew about their dates for homecoming. I told them not to do anything until I heard from Janet.
Today noticeably was cooler than it had been, it was getting near the end of September and we were due for the first killing frost. We would have to start wearing coats to school soon.
I heard lots of “Go Bellefontaine” as I walked through the hall. They were directed at me! This was traditional whenever we beat our arch rivals in Urbana. I suspect if our trash men could pick up garbage faster than theirs it would be, “Go Bellefontaine.” Still it was neat.
Janet looking fine in a navy blue skirt and white blouse cornered me on the way into the cafeteria for lunch.
“Ricky, tell Tom to ask Tracy, and Bill to ask Nancy to homecoming and dinner. They will both say yes.”
I walked over to the two guys and gave them their marching orders. Tom got an enormous smile, Bill looked worried.
Just then Janet came walking up with Tracy and Nancy. The two girls standing side by side looked like Mutt and Jeff. They were both good looking.
Tracy was tall, maybe five foot eight inches and slender with brunette hair and brown eyes. Nancy was considerably shorter, a little over five feet tall, blonde with blue eyes and a fair complexion. She was built like you wouldn’t believe.
Tom who was several inches taller than Tracy couldn’t ask her out fast enough knowing that she would say yes. Bill stuttered at the much shorter Nancy but did manage to ask her out.
Both girls seemed to appreciate the pressure the boys were under and responded with a simple, “I would love to go with you.”
The girls had their lunch trays with them and joined us.
They started going over the details with the two guys. I thought I knew all the arrangements. That was when I found out all the women had been talking back and forth. That meant nine females; the girls and all our mothers were in on this operation.
Tom and Bill were informed they had to wear suits to dinner, bring a change for the game, and then back to suits for the dance. All the changing would be at Janet’s house. Also the mom’s would be meeting at Janet’s for pictures.
After the general order of suits and changes for the game; the color of suits, ties, shoes for dinner and dance were discussed. After several hesitant starts Bill confessed he did not know how to tie a neck tie. I volunteered to tie his tie around my neck in a Windsor knot that could be loosened and slipped over his head.
That would make for a quick change from dinner to game to dance. I had learned to tie a Windsor knot at church of all places. I was taken by a neighbor as our family wasn’t church going. One of the men saw my sloppy four in hand knot and taught me how to tie a Windsor.
After describing his ties, which were clip on’s Tom was told to go to Wolfeins and get Henry’s help in selecting a narrow Vic Damone tie, preferably in blue.
The one real good thing that came out was that the costs would be split between us three guys. That meant my share of the limo would be thirteen dollars. I would only be on the hook for two dinners, a corsage and tickets to the game and dance.
The corsage was only two bucks, the game a buck fifty and the dance two dollars. My share would be about twenty five dollars for the whole night. That still was almost half as much as a grown man made in a week.
My friend’s moms had taken their suits to the dry cleaners and had ordered their corsages. I just had to order a corsage. Janet and I stopped at the junior class table outside the cafeteria after lunch and took care of that.
The one that she liked had pink baby roses; she thought it would go well with her cream colored dress and my grey suit. The girls had decided they didn’t need to wear hats and gloves to the dinner or the dance.
Now all we guys had to do was formally meet the parents of our dates. At lunch we were told it would be after dinner this evening, each of us was to go to the respective girls house and meet the parents, and don’t worry the dad’s bark was worse than their bite. Our parents would be driving us over. I think I said it before, guys didn’t have a chance.
I wondered if after the dance, Janet would now be my girlfriend. I’m not quite certain what being a boyfriend would mean. I know it might get me a chance to get her alone and kiss her, but what a boyfriend’s other duties were, was a mystery.
I was keeping one or two chapters ahead of each class and was now completing most of my future homework during the class. What I didn’t get done there such as essay’s I was able to finish in study hall. I found some of the subjects so interesting that I was doing ten and fifteen hand written pages when three would do.
One problem of all the writing was ink pen leaks. I had several Shaffer pens and they would all leak after I put them in my shirt pocket. I gave up and just would wear the shirt with a blotch on it. Mum hated it, but refused to buy new shirts when these shirts still fit and didn’t show any wear except for a little mark.
I was hoping fo
r new shirts at Christmas. Turns out I was like Mum, I hated to waste money when I had these perfectly fine shirts except for a little blotch. Maybe I should start using a pocket protector like the geeks.
There still was time to read books from my inherited collection. I had just finished one about a huge plantation before and during the civil war.
I thought it was so neat when he said, “Frankly, I don’t give a damn.”
If I tried that I would be in so much trouble.
Chapter 24
The golf lessons after school were fun, Coach put a bushel basket in the center of a practice green, and we had to try to put the ball in the basket from fifty yards. I did the best of the golf team making one out of four, but thought I could do better with practice. Even the ones I missed stayed within a few feet of the basket.
At dinner that night I had to relate the events of the day that involved dating to Mum. She expressed her opinion that things appeared to be under control, but that no doubt there would be a snafu. I asked what a snafu was; she blushed and just said it means things will go wrong. Somehow I think there was more to it than that. I would ask Dad later.
Dad ignored that conversation and showed interest in my schoolwork, but I had been bringing home the A’s from my exams, so they were mild questions, not the inquisition.
Mum was satisfied with my answers, and Dad had dropped my suit off at the dry cleaners, so all was on schedule. Dad had also stopped at the bank and picked up a money order for me. I immediately placed it along with the order form into an addressed stamped envelope and it was ready to go.
We had to drive by the post office on the way to Janet’s house so I was able to put it into the new drive through mailbox.
On the way Dad asked me if I was nervous. I told him I was a little. He laughed and told me he was scared to death when he had to meet Mum’s dad. His full name was Ernest Thomas Smyth Butler. He had been a Regimental Sargent Major in the British Army during World War I. Dad told me that granddad Ernie was probably the hardest man he had ever met. This was from a man that had been through the Battle of the Bulge.
