Once In A While (The Cherished Memories Book 1)

by Linda Ellen

  “Will you cut it out with that thing!” Vic griped good-naturedly. “Before I crack you over the head with it.” That was the third surprise shot Alec had taken of him since they had piled in the car and Earl had shown the gang his new toy. ‘New’ to him, since that afternoon when Mrs. Grant had gone to the pawnshop to buy back an item they had given as security for a small loan, only to find the shop dealer had sold it. Since it had only been that morning that her time had expired and he hadn’t allowed her any extra days to repay the loan, the man felt sorry for her tears and allowed her to pick another item at a reduced price.

  Alec, having immediately commandeered the device, just laughed at Vic’s complaint, swinging around to snap a picture of Earl and Ruth cuddling in the driver’s seat.

  “You gonna pay for the pictures to be developed, huh pal? Since you’re wastin’ all the shots?” Earl retorted with a snort.

  “Sure,” Alec grinned, snapping a close up shot of Fleet posing for him. “I feel like celebratin’. Got me a good job, a beautiful gal on my arm, and headin’ for some good chow. It don’t get no better,” he laughed again.

  He swiveled around and turned the camera toward Gerald and his new love, a young blonde girl named Delores. Gerald swung an arm at him, so he shrugged and made to turn away, but surreptitiously turned back and snapped the photo anyway. After leaning to give Fleet a firm kiss on the lips, Alec tilted his head back and sang, “Aaaaaaaaannnnnd, 99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall….” to which the other occupants laughingly joined in.

  A few minutes later, Earl pulled the large hearse into the somewhat full lot of the White Castle and threw it into park as his passengers began to spill out the doors, laughing at the wide-eyed looks they received from other restaurant patrons.

  “Whatsamatta wit’ you? Ain’t ya never seen a lively corpse before?” Alec teased one lady, prompting a reaction of, “Oh! Well, I never!”

  “Maybe ya oughtta try it,” Alec shot back, immediately followed by a, “Mmmph! Hey! What was that for?” as Fleet elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Can’t you behave?” she asked, only partly miffed.

  “Noooooow, if I did, ya wouldn’t like me as much, would ya,” he countered, reaching out and softly tugging her to his side. Trying not to grin at his antics, Fleet chuckled and shook her head as she disengaged from him and grabbed at his arm. “C’mon, you goof. I’m starvin’.”

  He immediately doffed his flat-billed cap and bowed from the waist, one arm swept wide. “Your…castle…awaits, M’Dam.”

  Just then, Vic placed one foot against his friend’s rump and gave him a playful shove. “Get thee inside then, you blackguard,” he groused, causing Louise to giggle as she recognized a line from the play. The lot of them laughed happily and filed inside the establishment.

  Once they received their orders, the playful young people trooped back out to the car and piled inside, leaving the doors open. Sitting on every available surface, they set about digging into their food. Louise found herself perched on the running board between Vic’s knees as he made himself comfortable on the edge of the back seat.

  Once again, Alec-the-camera-hound set about using the rest of the Brownie’s film to capture his friends in comical poses of eating. As he rounded the car, he pointed the lens at Vic and Louise.

  “Hey kids, last shot on the role. Make it good!”

  Vic grinned down at his girl, murmuring, “I’ll make it good. C’mere, babe,” and slipping a hand to the back of her head, he pulled her toward him, his lips immediately taking hers in a fiery kiss, the hottest they’d had yet. Louise instantly melted. Unconsciously releasing the paper-wrapped burger onto her lap, her hands slowly crept up Vic’s chest as she gently grasped fistfuls of the front of his shirt. Both were far too caught up in one another to notice the click of the shutter, or Alec’s voice as he singsonged, “That’ll be a good one.”

  Never had either of them experienced the flood of sensations and emotions they felt when they were together, especially when they kissed. It always made Louise sink into remembered images of scenes in the many romantic movies she had seen – and had always wondered if things like that happened in real life. Now she knew…yes, they did.

  For Vic, he had never thought about finding such a love as he’d found in his delightful Louise. She was everything a young man could ever want, and he couldn’t get enough of being with her, touching her, kissing her… He knew she had him totally captivated, but he didn’t care one jot.

  Mumbling a risqué word, Alec murmured with a snicker, “Okay you two, you can come up for air now.”

  Fleet cast a glance at her friend and shook her head in amusement, then reached out and grasped hold of her beau’s shirtsleeve, chiding, “Leave ‘em alone. You could learn a thing or two from them, you know.”

  Alec laughed and stepped close to his girl, immediately jumping into the challenge she had tossed out. With a naughty grin, he growled, “Oh yeah? C’mere,” and pulled Fleet into a tight clutch. Immediately he lowered her backward in a dip that would have rivaled Valentino, as he kissed her hungrily. When he finally let her up, she giggled, crooning, “Then again, maybe not.” The others chortled at their antics.

  Finally, Vic and Louise slowly pulled back from their enchanted kiss, starry-eyed, totally oblivious to their friends’ tomfoolery.

  Neither one could think of any place else they’d rather be, than right there, together, spending time with one another. The future seemed bright with promise.

  As Vic gave his girl an affectionate wink and brought his burger to his mouth for a hungry bite, Louise smiled lovingly at the man over which she was head over heels in love, thinking she couldn’t wait to see that snapshot.

  She knew it would be a memento she would cherish, although she had no idea at that moment just how much…

  *

  Soon the days flowed by and it was the first Saturday in May – Derby Day! As the mayor had promised, hard work, diligence, and neighbor helping neighbor, had paid off and the city was cleared of the evidence of the long-standing inundation. Proving the naysayers wrong, Louisville was once again ready for out of town visitors with money to wager and spend.

  The evening before, during their customary Friday night date, Louise had quite a close call when Vic nearly invited himself to spend the day with her – at her family’s apartment. Upon his inquiry as to her plans for Derby Day, she had mentioned the fact that her aunt, uncle, and cousins were coming for the day and that her father was home from Bowling Green for the weekend.

  Studying the expression on her face when he mentioned dropping by, the old familiar feelings of not being welcome began to surface and he turned her to face him, asking in a pained tone, “What is it? You act like you don’t want me to come around your parents…”

  Louise’s heart immediately lurched at the hurt in his eyes and the compounded problems she was causing herself because of the deceptions. She immediately responded, “Oh Vic, it isn’t that!”

  “Well…what then?”

  “It…it’s just…the apartment is small, you know? It’s just two rooms. It gets crowded real quick,” she answered, grasping at straws.

  Their eyes met and held, and Louise swallowed uncomfortably. They’d been walking together along Main Street, eating ice cream cones as the sun began to set on what had been, up to that point, an idyllic date. Neither one spoke for a moment as Vic digested her excuse and tried to figure out if there was anything behind her actions. It dawned on him that in all the weeks they had been dating, he’d never once actually picked her up like a gentleman, speaking with her family and promising not to keep her out late. She had always insisted she would meet him somewhere…

  Just then Eugene, coming from the opposite direction, stopped to chat. Totally oblivious of the tension between the couple, he asked cheerfully, “Hey pallie. What’s doin’?”

  Vic threw him a look, wishing he would move on.
<
br />   “Ya got a light?” Eugene persisted, indicating the cigarette he had just bummed from another friend on the street.

  Vic sighed in frustration. Reaching into his pocket, he produced a lighter, one-handedly manipulated the horizontal flint to produce an instant flame, and held it to Eugene’s cigarette. Drawing the fire in to touch off the tip, Eugene’s eyes focused on the item in Vic’s fingers. It was a silver plated Dunhill model. Vic kept it polished and in perfect condition.

  “Nice lighter, man,” Eugene commented, knowing the item’s value as he had admired similar ones in the pawn shops. Touching the object, he turned it enough to read the inscription engraved on the side, Daniel Elbridge Matthews. “Where’d you get that?”

  Vic turned his hand and glanced at the item, reading the name he’d read ten thousand times before. “Was my old man’s. Only thing I got when he died,” he added quietly, thinking of the item’s history; it had been given to his father as a gift for his forty-fifth birthday – three years before he passed away. With a shrug, Vic pocketed the keepsake.

  “You workin’ the track tomorrah?” Eugene queried as he turned his head to grin and wave at another friend who tooted his horn as he drove by the trio. “I heard they still got a few two dollar windows that need tellers.”

  Vic had, indeed, been thinking about seeking a job for the day out at the Louisville Jockey Club, which had only recently been renamed Churchill Downs, for one of the world’s most famous horse races, ‘The Run for the Roses’. Matter of fact, Vic had not even thought about skipping the Derby, until he found himself asking for an invite to Louise’s house.

  Now, he looked back at her, noticing the nervous way she was fiddling with the napkin wrapped around her ice cream cone. With resignation, he shrugged and glanced again at Eugene. “Sure. Got nothin’ better to do.”

  Although Vic had missed Louise’s expression as she winced at his words, Eugene caught it.

  The young man, finally realizing there was some sort of tension going on between his friends, cleared his throat and gave a short nod. “Okaaay. See ya there, then. Bye Louise,” he added. She responded with a tiny wave and partial smile. With that, Eugene made tracks on down the street.

  Moments ticked by, and Louise chanced a glance up at Vic’s face. It was unreadable. Somehow she sensed that he was kicking different scenarios and reasons for her evasiveness around in his head. She was right. Her actions had unwittingly dredged up his old feelings of rejection caused by the hurts in his past. But in all of their time together, he had told her very little about his life.

  “I’m sorry Vic. I…I don’t want you to think…” she began, but paused, not knowing what to say. She couldn’t think of any reason good enough. What would she say? I can’t have you come to the house and meet my family, because then everyone would find out I’ve been sneaking around behind my parents’ backs…and keeping Edna from finding out who you really are… She knew they would all have to find out sooner or later…but later would be much better. Reaching out a hand, she tentatively touched his arm.

  Fatalistically, Vic finally just shrugged and murmured, “Ahh forget it. Truth is, I was gonna tell ya I was gonna work the track anyways.”

  Lamenting that their date had been spoiled, they both glanced around uncomfortably as they wished things to be the way they had been just a few minutes before. Finally, Vic touched her elbow and indicated they should continue on their stroll. He spent a few minutes catching up on his now dripping ice cream.

  “So…Sonny gonna push papers at the track?” he asked, striving to sweep his feelings under the rug and go on as if nothing had occurred.

  Louise swallowed a large bite of her treat. “He sure is. He worked the Derby last year and really cleaned up. One man bought a paper and handed him a ten – and told him to keep the change!” she confided in amazement.

  Vic snorted with a nod. “Musta just won a big pot, had money ta burn.” Fondly remembering the Derby the year before – and winning ‘big’ on Bold Venture, he added, “That’s a good feelin’.”

  Louise nodded, relieved that their tiff had apparently been short-lived. “Yeah. Sonny’s lucky like that. He can always spot the big spenders.”

  “He’ll make good, then…” he responded, pausing as he noticed a commotion across the street. “What the…?” Several men had excitedly gathered at the remains of an old abandoned pub. Built in the 1800’s, and unable to be salvaged after the flood, the building had been hastily torn down to the foundation and wooden floor.

  Louise looked that way, brow furrowed. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know…but let’s check it out,” he murmured. Grasping her hand and quickly checking both directions for traffic, he crossed the street at a trot, tugging her along with him.

  When they reached the assembly, Vic asked the nearest man on his knees, who was pulling hard on one of the floor’s planks, “What’s doin’?”

  “Man, there’s all kinds ‘a money under this floor!” the excited man responded, finally succeeding in prying the floorboard loose.

  “You kiddn’?” Vic asked, incredulous.

  “Man, don’t just stand there – help – before somebody decides to come and stop us!” another man returned.

  Always game for ways to fill his pockets, Vic handed Louise the remains of his cone, murmuring, “Wait here,” as he dove into the middle of the fray. As one board after another was pried loose, the eager scavengers dipped their hands down into the dried mud. Hooting in surprise and pleasure, they clawed at the treasure trove of old coins – some even solid gold. The money must have been irretrievably dropped through the wide gaps in the floorboards over the one hundred years the pub had been in operation.

  Suddenly other people came running to see what the excitement was about. With a squeak, Louise moved back out of the way.

  “Look at all this! It’s like a gold mine!” one man exclaimed as he pulled a handful of booty from the dried mud under the rough sawed timber.

  Vic straightened up and crammed his stash into his pockets, then turned to help the man to his right pull up another board. “There must be hundreds of dollars worth of coins under there!” he yelled over to Louise. Heart pounding with excitement, she tossed the forgotten ice cream cones to the ground behind her and nodded, joining with several other girls rooting for their men to get all they could. The girls – all barelegged and wearing skirts – held back from kneeling on the rough-hewn floor. Feeling like fast friends, they grasped hands, jumping and squealing with excitement.

  As one man impatiently shoved another back, striving to grab the biggest amount for himself, the once friendly endeavor suddenly began to turn rowdy. The sore victim who was shoved righted himself and knocked the first man on his behind, taking his place at the opening. Vic dodged a shove himself as he reached down and grasped another handful of coins. Spotting two five dollar gold pieces, he quickly palmed the pair.

  “I can’t believe all of this is down here and nobody’s got it out before!” he commented to the man next to him. The man nodded, murmuring, “That’s my pal over there, Charlie,” he indicated a man several feet away, hard at work pulling up a board. “He’s the one who first saw it. We was sitting on the floor havin’ a smoke and he noticed somethin’ twinklin’ down between the boards.”

  This has gotta be the easiest money I’ve ever made, Vic was thinking, when all of a sudden, everyone heard the unmistakable sound of police whistles. All heads snapping up in that direction, they looked up the street to see two uniformed patrol officers heading their way at a run.

  “It’s the heat! Beat it!” one of the men yelled. Panic erupted as every man scrambled hurriedly to his feet, taking off in all directions. Vic grabbed two more handfuls of coins and stuffed them in his pockets as he hastily jumped up from his knees. Grasping Louise’s hand, they scurried down to the next cross street and turned. The evening air was pierced with the shrill sound of the whistles and shouts of, “Halt! Stop right there!” Hearts pounding fu
riously as they giggled with excitement from the rush of finding ‘buried treasure’ and nearly getting nabbed by the cops, they ran full-tilt away from the ruckus.

  When they were about two blocks away, they ducked into a doorway and peeked out to see if anyone was following, but thankfully there didn’t appear to be.

  “Whew!” Vic laughed as he caught his breath, leaning his head back against the door of the shop that was closed for the night. “That was close!”

  “Yeah!” Louise gushed, placing a hand to her chest, as she too caught her breath. Her eyes sparkled with exhilaration, and her hair had come loose from its moorings and now framed her face in disarray. Vic glanced at her, adoring every nuance of the elation displayed on her face.

  “How much did ya get?” Louise asked as she grinned up at him, gesturing at his pockets.

  “I dunno…” he paused, trying to figure the best place to go to find out. “Um…c’mon,” he said as he made his decision, taking her hand again as he set out for the Alder’s apartment.

  *

  “Oh Vic! This is so exciting!” exclaimed Rose, one of Alec’s older sisters. She was rather large, nearly as tall as her brother, and a little on the plain side. Rose and Bertha, the two Alder girls, who were well on their way to being ‘old maids’, still resided with their mother and younger brother.

  “Look at all these old coins!” added Bertha, the smaller, mousier of the sisters.

  When Vic and Louise had arrived at the apartment, Mrs. Alder had been across the hall visiting a sick neighbor, and Alec and Fleet had gone to the movies. Rose had offered to rinse the dirt and grime from the coins as Vic had turned his pockets inside out, emptying their contents into a pan. Now, the five of them sat around the kitchen table, picking through the small stash.

  “Silver dollars, five-dollar gold pieces, my goodness!” Louise murmured, fascinated.