Journey With the Comet

by Dana Wayne Haley

  —2—

  Shortly before the Christmas of ‘24 Margaret’s once minor stomach pain started to worsen. Dr. Gifford couldn’t be sure what the problem was, but he looked concerned and for the first time she realized it could be serious. Even so, Leona’s mother continued to put on a brave face for her family’s sake, trying to keep them from finding out just how bad she really was. It hurt to laugh, but she did anyway; and that winter—determined not to spoil the Haleys’ traditional Christmas festivities—Margaret watched as her children decorated the tree. Despite the pain, she bravely retrieved her Christmas angel and passed it to Murdock. Then on Christmas Eve she sat in her favorite rocker as if nothing was wrong while Murdock read The Night Before Christmas.

  Just after New Year’s Day, Margaret started to feel better again and her life was almost back to normal. She was able to once again enjoy the simple things in life the way she did before she took a turn for the worse. Margaret was pleased that her daughter’s freshman year at Bangor High was going so well, and she truly enjoyed the interaction with her budding teenager. The thing she enjoyed most was seeing the smile on Leona’s face when she walked through the door after coming home from school. That told a worried Margaret that everything was fine, at least as far as her youngest daughter was concerned. One of those times when Leona came home Margaret noticed a smile on her face that seemed somewhat unusual, and then she heard her daughter giggle.

  “What’s so funny, Leona?” she asked.

  “Nothing much, Mama. It’s just that on the ride home and the walk up the Winter Fun Road I was composing a poem in my head for an American Literature assignment.”

  “Let’s hear it,” Margaret said.

  “Okay, but you’ll be sorry. It’s not that good.”

  “Let me be the judge of that.”

  “Okay! It’s called: The Eagle. Here goes!

  “When I see an eagle fly,

  “I stop and marvel at the beast.

  “I watch it climb, way up to the sky,

  “Sometimes headed west, sometimes east.

  “It often circles, way up high,

  “Staying up there, for eternity.

  “Til it spots a mouse, with an eagle eye,

  “And speeds to the ground, as fast as can be.

  “Yes, when I see an eagle fly,

  “I stop and marvel at the beast.

  “Amazed to see it, soar so high,

  “Only to dive, and catch its feast.

  “That’s all I have so far, Mama?” she laughed. “It’s terrible; isn’t it?”

  “It’s not that bad, dear,” Margaret joked. “But you might want to work on it, just a tad more. And, for God sake, don’t let Arlene see it, unless you’re itchin’ for a teasin’.”

  They both laughed.

  The freshman year of high school was probably the time when Leona felt most assured about her life and about her future. She did well in all her subjects, convincing everyone, including herself, that college was indeed within reach. In addition, attending a school miles away from home and being mostly on her own helped Leona gain a semblance of independence. She felt secure in herself as a blossoming woman preparing to make her own way in life. In another four years she would hopefully be attending college, learning not only about astronomy, but about life in general. Until then, she had the high school experience to savor and to help her prepare for her new adventure.

  —3—

  Although Leona’s new friend was in many ways much like Jill, she was different in one very significant way: Ann was very adventurous and often talked Leona into doing things that the rural girl would not normally have done if she had been on her own. One such time she and Ann took in a weekend movie at the Bangor Opera House and Leona was supposed to come straight home after the movie was over. However, Ann was successful in talking her friend into going shopping instead. When Leona got home two hours late, Margaret was furious.

  “Where were you, young lady?” she asked.

  “Ann wanted to go shopping, so I went with her,” was Leona’s reply.

  “You know I worry about you if you’re not home on time, so why didn’t you come home when you were supposed to? I was about to send your father to Bangor, looking for you.”

  “I’m sorry, Mama; I didn’t want to leave Ann alone.”

  “It’s okay this time, but don’t you dare let that happen again,” her angry mother said. “Now, go to your room until I call you for supper.”

  Leona went to her room and lay on her bed for an hour thinking about her actions and feeling bad about disobeying her mother. Most of all she felt bad about causing her mother to worry, resolving to never do it again. For the most part she never did, even though that meant foregoing many of the activities that she and Ann enjoyed. However, she did continue one special activity with Ann: spending nights with her. Sometimes Leona would stay at the Kolters’ and sometimes Ann would stay at the Haleys’. Regardless, the topics they discussed were always the same. Ann would talk about boys and Leona would talk about her dreams.

  “What do you think about Marty Barrett?” Ann asked on one cold night in late February of ’24 at the Kolters’.

  “Oh, he’s kind of cute, I guess,” Leona said. “But I think he’s sort of stuck up, don’t you?”

  “Maybe a little, but he’s so handsome I can overlook that one little flaw,” Ann laughed.

  “Do you want me to tell Marty that you like him?” Leona asked.

  “You’d better not,” Ann pleaded. “I’d just die if you did.”

  “Why not? Maybe he likes you too. Besides, I won’t tell him you said you like him. I’ll just say that I think you like him.”

  “Well, okay, that sounds all right. What about you, Leona? Which of the boys in our class do you like?”

  “I think Danny O’Leary is nice. He’s cute, he’s polite, and he’s smart. But the best thing is: he isn’t stuck up at all.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell him you said that,” Ann joked.

  “If you do, one of these nights I’ll take you for a ride on my comet and leave you on the far side of the Moon.”

  “Don’t worry, Leona, I’m just kidding. But I’ll ask Danny if he likes you, if you want.”

  “I guess that would be okay. Just don’t be too obvious about it when you do.”

  “I won’t. And if he says he likes you, I’ll tell him that I think you like him too.”

  “Okay. Now let’s see if we can find some fast music on the radio so we can dance.”

  The two friends spent the next hour dancing with each other until it was time for bed.

  —4—

  Leona received the most enjoyment as a teenager from dancing; she loved to dance more than anything else on Earth, even more than singing. “Almost more than life itself,” she told Ann. In fact, she still had occasional dreams of becoming a professional dancer, and not just because of her love for dancing, but because it was a way for her to someday travel to places like Boston and New York City, maybe even London and Paris. But those were just dreams because Leona knew that she couldn’t be both a dancer and an astronomer too, so professional dancing was in all likelihood out of the question. It had to remain just a dream.

  Due to her earthy looks and outgoing personality, Leona was the most popular girl on the dance floor. All but the shyest of the boys would ask her to dance; and, not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings, she would dance with almost anyone who asked. The only boys she refused to dance with were the obvious bullies or any of the so-called good-looking boys she deemed to be obnoxiously conceited. Leona especially made a point of avoiding anyone who did not also ask Ann to dance. Ann was a plain looking girl, but Leona knew that her inner beauty more than made up for any of her external flaws.

  “If the boys don’t realize that, then that’s their loss and I want nothing to do with them,” she
told her mother one day.

  As far as her tastes went, Leona made a point to seek out the shy boys to dance with her. If they refused she would talk with them for a while, until they loosened up, and then she would convince them to dance.

  “I hate to see anyone not enjoying themselves just because they’re shy,” she told Ann. “And besides, the shy boys are often the ones who make the best friends.”

  As time went on the 14-year-old freshman was becoming more and more interested in boys. She quickly found out, however, that many of the boys she met wanted more than friendship, and she was not prepared for that just yet.

  “I’m gonna wait ‘til I’m married,” she told Ann.

  “Are you crazy? I’ll never be able to make it past high school.”

  “You’d better if you want to go to college,” Leona warned. “If you end up having a baby you can kiss biology goodbye.”

  Leona was not about to let anything like that happen to her. She wanted to be an astronomer more than anything, and nothing was going to stand in her way.

  “I’m as curious about sex as the next girl, Ann, but I can wait until after college, and for your sake I hope you do the same. Don’t do it just because other girls are. Let your first time be with someone special; if you don’t you’ll always regret it.”

  Ann marveled at her friend’s maturity.

  “Are you gonna date in high school?” she asked.

  “Oh, I’ll date and maybe even kiss a boy if I like him enough, but that’s as far as it goes; and if he doesn’t like that, then tough.”

  —5—

  Leona began dating during the last quarter of her freshman year, after turning fifteen in April. And, since her mother had found and married a good man, she went into the dating scene with high expectations. After a few bad dates, however, her expectations were diminished. It wasn’t until Daniel O’Leary got up the courage to ask her out that she finally found someone she liked.

  “Did you have a good time?” Dan asked when he brought her home from their first date.

  “Oh yes. The food at Mario’s was so delicious; and The Phantom of the Opera was amazing; I only wish it had sound so we could hear the singers.”

  “I know!’ Dan said. “I hear they’re working on sound for a new movie; I think it’s called The Jazz Singer. It’s supposed to be ready in a couple of years. Anyway, Leona, I’m glad you had a good time; maybe we can do it again next weekend?”

  “You’ve got a date,” Leona said, “if I can get my parent’s permission. You made a good impression on them tonight, so I’m sure they’ll have no objections; especially since you brought me back before curfew.”

  “Great, I’ll see you in school on Monday and we can set a time. Maybe we can go bowling?”

  “Okay; sounds good. And thanks again for a great date,” Leona said as she leaned forward to tenderly hug and kiss Dan.

  “Leona, it’s time to come in now!” she heard her father say. She smiled and said goodbye to Dan.

  “How was your date?” Margaret asked when her daughter walked through the door.

  “It was wonderful. I really like Dan. He’s not at all like the other jerks I’ve dated. He’s a lot like Papa, only much younger and much more modest,” she said while winking at her mother. Margaret grinned when she saw Murdock squint and raise his eyebrows in response to Leona’s remark.

  “Well, he’d better treat you good if he wants to make it to my age,” he responded.

  Leona and her mother looked at each other and laughed.

  “Don’t worry, Papa, he’s a good boy. And besides, if he tries anything funny I can take care of myself. Mom showed me where to kick boys if they try something.”

  “Ouch! Yeah, that’ll do it all right. But you bes’ be careful just the same.”

  “I will, Papa. Don’t worry so much.”

  “We’re parents, Leona,” Margaret said. “We get paid to worry; it comes with the territory.”

  “Well, I don’t think they’re paying you and Papa enough,” Leona joked; and, with that, her parents burst out laughing.

  “You’ve got that right,” Murdock said after regaining his composure. “The way I see it, ah million dollars wouldn’t be enough; not nearly.”

  Chapter 52

  Growing Up Fast

  Leona dated Dan four more times before school let out for the summer and she grew to like him more and more. However, his rich parents owned a summer home on the Maine coast, so she was not going to see him until the following school year.

  “I wish I could visit Dan in Bar Harbor, Mama,” Leona told her mother.

  “I know, dear, but you’ll see him again in only three months time.”

  “Three months? That’s an eternity.”

  “Not quite,” Margaret laughed. “It’ll be over before you know it. And you know what they say: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. So look on the bright side, dear.”

  Leona tried to heed her mother’s advice. Still, time couldn’t go by fast enough as far as the two love-struck teenagers were concerned. In the meantime, Dan would have to take consolation by enjoying the Maine coast, while Leona would have to make do and enjoy the summer of ‘25 with her friend Ann. And they did just that.

  The summer before their sophomore year of high school she and Ann had the time of their lives. They had always worked hard in school because both girls were determined to achieve their goals, and they were just as determined to not waste a single minute of their well-earned vacation, or as Leona would say: “Our three months of freedom from homework purgatory.”

  During the months of June and July the teenagers were always on the go: taking in a double-feature at the cinema once a week; going to the Bangor State Fair and to nearby country fairs to experience the thrill of the carnival rides and games; going swimming three or four times a week at Jill’s favorite spot, sometimes even skinny-dipping; and, last but not least, going to dances in Bangor and Kenduskeag where Leona’s first priority was dancing and her second was meeting boys. For Ann the order was reversed.

  The two girls played so hard during those first two months of summer that, when August finally rolled around, Leona was almost looking forward to September and heading back to high school to pursue her dream of attending college. The unusually erudite young girl, who many deemed to be wise beyond her years, was determined to concentrate even harder in her sophomore year of high school, especially after taking full advantage of her first real chance to think only of herself, at least, since her carefree childhood days where going sledding was her highest priority. However, in early August something happened that would impact Leona’s life plans forever, in ways that she could never have anticipated.

  After suffering for years in silence with a puzzling illness that even Dr. Gifford could not definitively diagnose, Margaret became severely ill. As a result, Leona’s thoughts turned to her mother, and going back to high school became only a secondary consideration. As Labor Day neared, Margaret was deathly ill, so Leona decided to drop out of high school to care for her beloved mother, wishfully believing that Margaret would quickly recover and that her absence from school would only be temporary. So, just when she had reached the age where life should have been the most carefree and the most fun, the 15-year-old now had new, awesome responsibilities that anyone twice her age would be hesitant to take on, not to mention a teenager, albeit a mature one. But Leona was never known to shirk her duties when it came to anything, certainly not when it came to helping her mother.

  —1—

  Ann was heartbroken when Leona told her about Margaret, even more so when she learned that Leona planned to stay home from school until her mother was better. Ann understood just how much her friend wanted to go to college and knew that having to miss her sophomore year of high school had to be devastating for Leona.

  “It’s not fair!” Ann said upon learning that Leona
would not be going to school with her on opening day. “It must be killing you. Why can’t someone else take care of your mother?”

  “My mother needs me,” was Leona’s simple answer. “She took good care of me whenever I was sick and now it’s my turn to help her.”

  “But why can’t your sisters do it, instead of you?”

  “My sisters will help out as much as they can. But Lillian is living in Bangor now and she has her hands full with her 2-year-old, not to mention her new baby boy. So she can’t be expected to help much with Mama.”

  “Oh, I wondered why I didn’t see Lillian around here that much anymore. When did she and her husband move to Bangor?”

  “A couple of months ago. When you were visiting your aunt in Millinocket.”

  “Oh, that explains it. It also slipped my mind that Lillian gave birth again. What did she name her new son?”

  “Fred. He’s the cutest thing.”

  “How old is he now?”

  “Nearly four months. He was born May 11th, just two weeks shy of little Roland’s birthday.”

  “Well, I guess it would be too much to expect Lillian to help care for your mother, but what about Arlene? Can’t she help?” Ann asked.

  “She already is. Arlene took a job as a secretary in Bangor to help out. What with all Mama’s medical expenses, Papa’s income isn’t near enough.”

  After considering the difficult situation that Leona found herself in, Ann finally understood her friend’s reason for wanting to stay home and take care of her mother. But she still felt angry that fate had placed her friend in such a dreadful predicament. Although Leona assumed that her mother would be better in a month, or maybe two, Margaret grew worse. Eventually she was diagnosed with cancer and the family was devastated because they knew that no one who came down with cancer in those days ever survived, except in rare cases called miracles.

  It wasn’t long before Margaret became so ill that Leona was forced to take over all her mother’s household duties. That was in addition to providing her mother’s personal care and also caring for Wally, who was now 10 years old. In a sense, Leona was even caring for her father by cooking his meals, mending his clothes, and performing other simple tasks that her mother normally did. Margaret hated that her youngest daughter had to miss out on high school, but it was unavoidable because someone had to tend to the house and Leona was the only one who could. Wally was too young and too dependent to be of much help to his sister, while Murdock and Arlene had to work during the day and couldn’t help, so Leona took charge and did everything that her mother could no longer do.