by Linda Ellen
Vic nodded his thanks and reached for Louise’s hand as they made their way to the door. “You look great,” he whispered, his eyes sweeping over her figure and the lovely way she had fixed her hair. She grinned up at him and whispered an echoing, “Thanks, you do, too,” as she surveyed her handsome escort in a crisp light green button-up shirt and creased black trousers, his hair perfectly slicked back into place. As he leaned past to grasp the doorknob and allow her to precede him, she caught a heady whiff of Old Spice. It made her senses tingle.
As they emerged out on the porch, she heard a horn toot and after a glance, erupted in giggles. “Now it really feels like old times,” she laughed as they hurried hand-in-hand down the steps toward the familiar big black car waiting at the curb.
“Come on you guys, we don’t want to miss any of the songs,” Alec hollered from the back seat of the old hearse. Her anticipation growing, Louise joyfully greeted their friends and with Vic, piled onto the seat beside them.
“Yeah, it’s Perry Como,” Ruth sighed dramatically. “All that dark wavy hair, those dark eyes, that smoooothe voice…”
“Hey girl, you just remember who’s springing for this little outing, and who’s driving you home,” Earl reminded her with a faux glare.
“Yeah, no drooling over the band members, that would be hazardous to your health – you might slip and fall down,” Alec teased.
“Mmm, that goes for you, too,” Vic whispered to Louise as Earl put the car in gear and they got on their way.
Louise turned her head and looked straight into his eyes. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m totally content with my own dark haired, dark eyed dreamboat.”
Vic gave her a seductive grin before taking her lips in a hot kiss.
“Hey now, quit that Romeo,” Alec teased, but his wife gently elbowed him in the ribs.
“Maybe you could use a few lessons from him, bucko.”
“Oh yeah? I can outdo him any day ’a the week. I’ll give ya some smoochin’ that’ll curl your toes, woman. C’mere,” Alec growled as he took Fleet into his arms and laid a good one on her.
Earl glanced in the rearview and chuckled. “Hey back there – we going to a dance, or a pettin’ party?”
Vic came up for air for just a minute, flicking a hand toward Earl. “Aw, just shut up and mash the gas peddle, driver,” he growled playfully.
A round of chuckles erupted as Earl obeyed, sending the old car forward with a lurch and tossing the occupants backward as they only laughed louder, and kept on joking and teasing all the way to their destination.
*
Music could already be heard as Earl parked the old hearse. The couples ran, hand in hand, to the ticket booth, and then on to Fontaine Ferry’s outdoor dance garden, the Gypsy Village Nightclub. The sun was setting when they arrived, and the bright lights of the village could be seen from all over the park. The atmosphere, the thousands of patrons milling about and already dancing, the music, and the late summer breeze floating in from the river, carrying along its pungent organic aroma, all combined to give the young people goose bumps of excitement.
“This is going to be so much fun,” gushed Louise as she held tight to Vic’s hand, the six of them trying to make their way inside without being separated from one another.
“Yeah, this is the first dance me and Alec have gone to since before AJ was born, and I’m planning on dancing ’till the cows come home,” Fleet agreed.
The six friends made their way onto the crowded floor and joined the other dancers. The warm up band, Chuck Gossett and his orchestra, one of Louisville’s own, played three more songs. Then as the crowd applauded and turned toward the front to watch, a man came across the stage and spoke something into the bandleader’s ear. Louise watched as Chuck Gossett’s eyes widened, and then his mouth appeared to form a few colorful words before he turned to the large crowd filled with patrons beginning to clamor for a glimpse of the anticipated headliner.
He tapped the microphone to quiet the crowd. “Uh, folks. I just got the news. Seems Perry and the whole band came down with a touch of food poisoning at their last gig and won’t be able to make it tonight.” Instantly, the huge space erupted with moans, groans, and angry protests. One man shouted that he wanted his money back. Chuck hurried on, “But not to worry, in place of that, we’re gonna have a dance contest, with lots of great prizes. Ain’t that right?” he turned his head to meet eyes with the manager, who had been the one to tell him about the unfortunate turn of events. The man’s eyes widened and with a nervous fluttering of his hands, he nodded with a grimace and hurried off the stage.
Several more songs and thirty minutes later, patrons lined up to register for the contest, among them, Fleet and Alec. They received their contestant number and turned to head back to their friends.
“Ouch! Hey, you creep!” Fleet hollered at a man who had jostled against her and trod on her foot. The offender glanced over his shoulder as he moved through the crowd, murmuring a quick, “Sorry.”
“Oh, this is just great,” she grumbled as she leaned against her husband, slipped off her shoe, and rubbed her toes, which were already starting to bruise.
“You okay, babe?” Alec murmured, looking around for the man but not seeing him anywhere. “You want me to go find him and beat his head in?”
“No, lemme just stand here a minute,” she mumbled as Ruth and Louise hurried over.
“What a jerk!” Ruth sneered, having seen the incident. “You alright, honey?”
Fleet nodded as she gingerly flexed her toes. Maneuvering her shoe back on, however, was a different story. “Mmm, oh man, that hurts.” Mumbling a few off color words under her breath, she grumbled, “Why’d I wear these stupid high heels?”
“If it feels better without it, take ’em off,” her pragmatic husband suggested.
She put her stockinged foot on the floor and tested it, nodding. “Yeah, that’s better. But, I can’t dance barefoot.”
Alec shrugged, trying to hide his disappointment. “Don’t worry about it, babe. I’ll go turn in our number.”
“No!” Fleet reacted, grabbing his arm before he could turn. “Don’t do that. Dance with Lou, you guys dance good together.”
Louise’s eyes widened and she immediately glanced up at Vic, vividly remembering the last time she had danced with another man. Vic, however, seemed fine with the idea. It was, after all, just Alec, his friend. Seeing the question in her eyes, he murmured with a shrug, “S’ok with me.”
Alec glanced at Louise. “You game, Lou?”
Louise clamped her teeth on her lip and nodded. “I guess so…if you are.”
With a nod, Alec grabbed her hand and they made their way to the front to get in line.
The contest would be judged by three couples at a time dancing to a catchy tune, with the manager indicating each couple and the crowd voting with applause. The winners of the first rounds would dance against one another, until they were down to three couples left.
When it was Alec and Louise’s turn, they danced to Chuck Gossett’s rousing rendition of Glenn Miller Orchestra’s In the Mood. Louise could feel Vic’s eyes on her as she and Alec moved around the dance floor, and she had to strive to concentrate on following Alec as she could hear Fleet and Ruth yelling praise and comments, even above the music and the noise of the crowd.
“Hey, we do dance pretty good together, huh Little Bit?” Alec cheekily stated the obvious as he turned her this way and that, keeping perfect time with the music.
Louise nodded with a giggle, admittedly having a wonderful time dancing with the very suave Alec. He had such great rhythm and could really ‘cut a rug’, as good as any of the male dancers in the contest. Light on his feet, he had a smooth way about him, and would even showboat, twirling himself around on one foot, causing the crowd to react. Louise managed one quick glance toward Fleet and was pleased to find her grinning from ear to ear, and cupping her hands to her mouth to shout encouragement.
They won their
round and ran to the side to wait for the next.
Standing in line with Alec, Louise pressed a hand to her chest as she strove to catch her breath, and searched the crowd for her love. She soon spotted him standing with his arms crossed, his gaze trained on her. When their eyes met across the dance floor, he grinned big, his teeth flashing in the bright lights. Then, oblivious to the others around them, eyes only for her, he puckered his lips and blew her a kiss. She grinned and pretended to catch it, and then sent one back to him.
“Lovebirds,” Alec teased. “Just wait ’till you’re an old married couple like me and Fleet.”
After the long months and years that she and Vic had been apart, Louise had vowed to never take their relationship for granted, as she had experienced first hand just how quickly things could change. It was a lesson she would never forget. Now, she looked her dance partner, Vic’s best friend, in the eye and vowed, “Alec, till the day I die I’ll be crazy about that man. After everything we’ve been through, I’ll never take him for granted. I plan on being married to him till we’re old and gray.”
Alec sent her an approving wink, and then gamely hooted and encouraged the three couples on the floor. When it was their turn again, they danced to an up-tempo version of the Glenn Miller tune, Pennsylvania 6-5000, where they really got into some fine synchronization of Alec twirling Louise with a hand over her head or passing her around behind his back. They won that round hands down and were really riding high…until the next elimination.
That time, the chosen tune was a silly song made famous by the Will Bradley band, Scrub Me Mama, With a Boogie Beat. Its odd rhythm caught them off guard and they messed up a few times, while their competitors sashayed around the floor in flashy twists and turns, and even flips, causing Alec and Louise to look decidedly uncoordinated.
“Man I don’t much like this ditty. I feel like a concrete mixer,” Alec grumbled as he and Louise tried their best to find their groove. None of his trademarked moves seemed to be working.
“Me, too!” she agreed with a grimace as she watched their competitors make another glide past them, a look of superiority on their faces.
When all was said and done, they came away with second place, for which the prize was four free passes to the park.
On the way to the car when the dance was over, Fleet snatched two of the tickets from Alec’s pocket and waved them in the air, quipping, “Woohoo! Hey Lou, at least we know we’ll have a night out when the park opens again come spring!”
To that, the fellows groaned playfully, and then laughingly dodged tickles and swats from their women as the six friends teased and joked their way back to the car.
All in all, it was quite a memorable night.
‡
CHAPTER 11
Pride and Misunderstanding
The weeks seemed to be crawling by while Louise worked her fingers to the bone to pay for the divorce. Meanwhile, although he had been able to help with one payment, Vic found his job as a taxi driver was proving to be disappointingly lacking. Every day that he spent bringing home less money than his girl was making him feel less and less like the provider and “Knight on a white horse” that he wanted to be.
September came and went, and so did Earl and Ruth’s wedding at the courthouse downtown. The couple had suffered disagreements over wedding plans – specifically that Earl wanted nothing fancy while Ruth, of course, longed for a wedding with ‘all the trimmings’ – to the point that they had even called everything off for a while. Finally, having reconciled and on the spur of the moment, they jumped in the car, grabbed a few friends, and headed off to the courthouse to tie the knot before anything else happened.
Louise and Vic stood behind them and watched as the bride and groom took their vows, with Alec and Fleet at the couple’s sides, acting as best man and matron. For Fleet, it brought back sweet memories of her and Alec’s own exchange of promises after their tempestuous courtship and near breakup. For Louise, always one to cry at weddings, the moment their friends were pronounced Man and Wife prompted a few tears, and made her long even more for her and Vic’s own ceremony so that they could start their life together. She could tell by one glance at Vic’s face that he was feeling the same. He reached for her hand, holding it warmly in his as his eyes held her gaze. She had the strongest feeling that he was silently repeating the vows they were hearing Earl speak to Ruth.
Moments later, the groom gave the bride a raucous smack on the lips and everyone laughed with them joyfully – even the presiding Justice of the Peace. He bade them good luck and sent them on their way.
Then they all had a good laugh when they emerged from the courthouse building and saw the old hearse sitting at the curb all decked out with streamers, strands of old shoes tied to the back, and the windows plastered in shaving cream with the words Just married…Courthouse or Bust…She finally Roped Him…Till Hearse Do Them Part.
“Now who was the dirty dog that did this?” Earl squawked as they descended the steps. Just then, a B-Line taxi rolled by, its horn tooting merrily. The six laughed as Gerald’s long arm emerged from the driver’s window, the hand holding a shaving mug and brush, as his cackling laughter echoed down the street.
Earl and Ruth turned to their friends as he offered, “Okay, now that that’s over, what say we grab us a bite to eat somewh…” he stopped as his new bride elbowed him in the ribs.
“Oh no you don’t,” she interrupted with a gleam in her eye. “We’ve only got two days off from work and I’ve got plans for you, Mister. Honeymoon plans.”
Vic and Alec laughed at Earl’s expression, but then he snickered and leaned down to give his new wife a kiss, murmuring, “I was just testing you.”
The six shared a good laugh as Ruth hugged each one while Earl was shaking their hands, both thanking their friends for standing up with them. Then he opened the driver’s door and Ruth scooted quickly inside. Moments later, he tapped the horn in a jolly rhythm as they drove on their way.
“Poor Earl, she finally got a ring in his nose,” Alec chortled, letting out an “Ooof” as Fleet elbowed him in the stomach. “Just teasing, my turtle dove,” he crooned as he gave her a wink and leaned in for a quick kiss.
Laughing, Fleet turned to their companions. “How’s about we go find some food, I’m starved.”
“That sounds good…” “I don’t think so…” Louise and Vic responded simultaneously.
Louise looked up at her intended, placing a hand up to hold her hat in place in a sudden burst of wind. “But…I’m hungry, Vic…”
He shot her a look she couldn’t, at first, decipher. With a shrug, he mumbled, “I can’t. I…I forgot my wallet.”
“Oh that’s okay, Vic. I can pay,” Louise offered without thinking. She didn’t have a lot extra, but she knew she had enough in her purse to pay for a snack for herself and Vic and she knew he’d had hardly any fares that week.
She wasn’t prepared, however, for his reaction. He turned toward her as anger and something else flashed in his eyes…shame?
“I’m not hungry,” he almost growled. Louise bit her lip as she glanced at their companions and saw them share a look of discomfort. Alec opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again as he changed his mind. Suddenly, Vic grasped her hand and mumbled, “See you guys later,” before tugging her along to his Coupe parked a few spaces down.
“What’s wrong, Vic?” Louise asked as they reached the passenger door, but instantly recoiled when he shot her a stern, angry look.
“Just get in,” he mumbled, waiting until her legs had cleared before firmly shutting the door.
Louise remained silent as Vic brooded, driving along the streets of downtown on the way to take her home. She didn’t know whether to apologize or just say nothing and wait until it blew over. They rode all the way to her place in absolute, cloying silence, with her trying to figure out the best course of action. Finally, Vic pulled the car to a stop at the curb. She could tell by the muscle clenching in his jaw that he
was still upset, yet he attempted to rein in his frustration enough to muster a tiny smile. “I’ll see ya later…got some things to do.”
Swallowing her disappointment, as she had assumed they would spend the day together, Louise nodded and waited for a moment to see if he would come around and open her door, but he didn’t – he just sat there, staring moodily down the street. With a sigh, she murmured, “See you later, Vic,” as she opened the door and climbed out. When she shut the door, maybe a bit less gently than she usually did, he raised one hand in a half-hearted wave before maneuvering out and on up the street.
Louise stood there on the sidewalk, bereft, as she watched Vic drive away, her heart heavy with concern – and something akin to fear.
*
Ten minutes later, Vic found himself sitting in his car out in front of the First Lutheran Church, the large, twin-steeple, Gothic-style limestone edifice almost as intimidating as it had been the first time he’d seen it. He looked over at its stained-glass double front doors and wondered if they were locked. It’s Saturday, they probably are. Doc’s probably not there…
He sat staring straight ahead, trying to sort through the heavy load of frustration that had been piling up on him over the weeks. It stung his pride, badly, that Louise was earning more money than he was, and that he didn’t have the cash to help her pay the installments for the divorce. She was so sweet about it, never making him feel like a heel for what, in his eyes, amounted to him letting her down and not providing for her needs. And what she’d said outside the courthouse – he knew she hadn’t meant to pour salt in the ‘wound’, but she had all the same. He had the good grace, however, to feel pangs of shame for the way his stony silence had intimidated her in the car, yet his male pride had been stinging too much to allow him to tell her it wasn’t her fault and that he wasn’t angry at her – but at the situation. For the umpteenth time, he thought back to the good paying job he had quit in Evansville to come back to Louisville and start over. Had he made a stupid mistake? Should he have asked Louise if there were some way she and Tommy could go there to be with him?
