It no longer looked like our school gym. Overhead, colorful streamers were interwoven with bunches of balloons. The tables had flower arrangements and pots of tulips as decoration. Even the raised platform where the band played was decorated with streamers and balloons to blend in.
Finally, we were done.
“Doesn’t look like a gym any more, does it?” said Lisa beside me.
“No it doesn’t,” I agreed impressed by the transformation.
Lisa mother planned to pick us up at 3:30. We got our books and coats then went outside to wait.
First Lisa’s mom drove us to the ranch so I could pick up my overnight bag and dress. There was too much stuff to bring to school and I didn’t want my party dress to get wrinkled.
Lisa came up to my room while her mom talked to Aunt Bess in the kitchen. The dress hung on the back of the door.
“Oh Maryann, it’s gorgeous,” said Lisa feeling the soft blue material. “The color matches your eyes.”
“Yeah, that’s what Aunt Bess said. What’s your dress like?”
“It’s a rust color,” she fluffed up her auburn hair, “Mom says it brings out the best in my curly hair.” We both laughed.
“Oh Lisa, I can’t believe Aunt Bess let me go to the dance.”
“Neither can Rick.” We burst out laughing again.
“Did you see him while we decorated?” I asked.
“See him? Who do you think sent him in your direction?”
“Come on girls, let’s get going,” called Lisa’s mother from the bottom of the stairs.
I grabbed my overnight bag. Lisa took my dress on the hanger.
“Have a good time, girls,” said Aunt Bess. She turned to Lisa’s mom. “I know Ruth will keep an eye on you both.” The message was clear. Watch out for ‘that Ferguson boy.’ I was going to the dance and Rick would be there. That’s all I cared about.
“Oh I almost forgot,” she turned around and took a box off the countertop. “Your accessory.”
I took the square box and opened it. There against black velvet sat a beautiful silver locket with a blue stone in the shape of a heart.
“It’s lapis. I think it’ll go real pretty with your dress.” She smiled. “My Jacob gave it to me, so you take care and don’t lose it.”
“Oh Aunt Bess, it’s beautiful.” I hugged her. “Thank you, for everything.”
She escorted us to the door and watched us get in the car. Then she waved as we pulled away. Russ came out of the door behind her and slipped is arm around her shoulder and waved too.
* * *
We drove to Lisa’s where we’d eat and get dressed. Since her mom was a chaperone, she’d drive us to the dance and take us home.
I’d never been to her house before. She lived in a development with neighbors on either side and across the street. We pulled into the drive in front of their two-car garage and got out.
“Let me show you around,” said Lisa after hanging my dress in the hall closet. I dropped my overnight bag beside the door and followed her.
Their house had three bedrooms, a large living room and a dining room off the kitchen. The basement had a play room with a TV, a ping pong table and, in the corner, an upright piano.
Like a moth to the light, I headed to the instrument.
“Do you play?” I asked fingering the ivory keys.
I didn’t hear the answer. My mind was back in Boston to the corner of our living room where the baby grand stood. Mom played it almost every day. I awoke most mornings to Bach or Mozart. In college she studied music then went on to a special school for piano.
“I was going to be a concert pianist,” she once confided. “Then I met your father and later had you.”
Dad said he could tell Mom’s mood by what she was playing.
“If it’s Beethoven, watch out!” he kidded her.
Music was as important to Mom as breathing. Occasionally she performed concerts to raise money for charity. She even played with the Boston Philharmonic. We had records of those concerts. Everyone knew her in Boston and she could have played more often. Instead, she taught a few, talented students. She tried to teach me, but quit after a few, painful lessons. I hated playing the piano.
I missed her and the beautiful music she made. Tonight I was going to a dance and neither she nor Dad were here to see my dress.
“Maryann? Maryann are you all right?” Turning, I saw Lisa’s worried face.
“Mom used to play,” I explained, my eyes filling. “I miss her,” I whispered.
“I’m so sorry you lost her,” she said, then gave me a quick hug.
“Come on, let me show you my room.”
Her older brother, Daniel, was away at college and her two younger siblings weren’t home yet. We went upstairs to her room to unpack and I hung my dress in her closet. Lisa shared a room with her sister. Since I was sleeping over, her sister would sleep in her younger brother’s room.
When we came downstairs, her siblings were back from school. Stephanie was a sixth grader and had the same curly red hair and freckles as Lisa. Thomas was in fourth grade with brown hair. He had a louder voice and more energy than anyone else in the household.
“Girls, please set the table,” her mother asked. We began getting plates from an overhead cabinet and cutlery from a kitchen drawer.
While Lisa and I finished setting the table, Mr. Barrows came in. After he took off his coat, then came into the kitchen and kissed his wife on the cheek.
“Hello, my love.”
“How were things at the bank today?” she asked.
“A low roar,” he replied. He noticed me and held out his hand. “You must be Maryann. Welcome.”
I shook his hand. He took his suit jacket off and draped it over the back of his chair.
He reminded me of my father in some way I couldn’t define. Maybe it was the same tall build they shared. They both wore suits. Lisa’s dad wore a bolo tie with his shirt and well-polished boots. He even wore a cowboy hat.
I felt a pang knowing I’d never sit down to share a meal with my parents again.
Everyone talked at once. I didn’t have siblings so I watched and listened.
“Thomas, get that thing off the table,” said his mother.
“It’s my invention,” he protested lifting a model that looked like a cross between a boat and an airplane.
”I don’t care. Put it on the side board.”
Lisa’s father reached over and removed the ‘invention,’ putting it where his wife requested.
“It’s not easy having an inventor in the family,” he quipped.
Lisa’s mom began dishing out the homemade lasagna. I took some salad from the wooden bowl being passed and a slice of garlic bread from the basket that followed. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. Everything tasted wonderful.
Mr. Barrows asked everyone how their day went. Dinner with the Barrows’ family was like a carefully orchestrated symphony.
My dinners in Boston were so different. We seldom ate together. Mom didn’t cook, so my parents dined out. I usually ate alone in the kitchen, a meal fixed by our housekeeper.
“Who wants jello?” asked Lisa’s mom. Lisa cleared the dinner dishes while her mother brought out a big bowl of green jello and a can of whipped cream. I’d only had jello at school.
After Lisa and I cleared the dessert dishes, Lisa’s mom told us to go change.
“Stephanie and Thomas will help me with the dishes,” she said.
”Oh, Mom,” complained Thomas.
“Never mind. It’s your turn to help. Lisa’s gotta get ready for the dance.”
“Okay, all right,” he reluctantly agreed, eyeing his ‘invention’ on the side board.
It didn’t take us long to put our dresses on. I took the necklace out of the box and opened the blue locket. It contained a tiny photograph of my late Uncle Jacob. I stared at the picture of a handsome dark-haired man in a suit. I felt sad that I’d never met him. No wonder she asked me to take special care of it.
“My Uncle Jacob,” I replied putting the necklace on. It hung perfectly in the neckline of the dress.
Arms linked, Lisa and I admired our reflections in the mirror on the back of her closet door.
“I’d never be going to the dance if it wasn’t for you.”
She smiled. “That’s what friends are for.”
Lisa’s dad admired our dresses when we got downstairs.
“Girls, you’ll both be the belles of the ball,” he pronounced.
“Oh Dad.” Lisa blushed and hugged him, then kissed his cheek.
“Enjoy yourselves, now,” he instructed.
“Oh we will, Dad. Don’t worry.”
Her mother put on her coat. “It’s time to go.”
Then we got our coats on and went to the car. We sat together in the back seat, trembling with excitement. I couldn’t wait to see Rick.
Then remembered a line from Romeo and Juliet, “O, ‘tis twenty years till then.”
How did Shakespeare know how I felt?
Chapter 19
Friday, May 19, 1961
Lisa’s mother dropped us off at the door then went to park the car.
Several coat racks were set up by the front. We paid our five dollar admission which included a raffle ticket and two forms, one to pick the Dance King and one for the Dance Queen.
“Put your raffle tickets here,” one of the teachers pointed to a large glass fish bowl. “And your ballots for the Dance King and Dance Queen here.” She indicated to a box covered in blue and another in pink.
“Come on, let’s check our hair.” Lisa pulled me to the ladies room after we put our raffle stubs in the bowl.
The bathroom was jammed with everybody looking in the mirrors. We glanced at our reflections and left.
“We have to decide who to pick for the Dance King and Queen,” said Lisa when we were back in the lobby.
“Pauline will get it,” I said. “And her date.” I knew the way politics worked. It didn’t matter to me who won.
“I have an idea,” said Lisa. “Give me your ballots.” I handed them to her. Lisa scribbled names on the blue forms and the pink forms then popped them into the appropriate boxes.
Everyone looked so different dressed up. Most of the boys had western shirts and bolo ties. They looked real sharp.
Lisa’s mom waved at us from a group of several of the teachers.
The band was on a raised platform at one end of the gym. They began tuning their instruments and picking out cords.
“Hey, there.”
I turned around. Rick wore a deep blue shirt and a western bolo tie with an arrow-shaped slide made of turquoise. With black pants and boots to match, he looked so handsome.
He took my hands and held me away from him.
“Well, don’t you look beautiful?”
I blushed. “Thank…thank you,” I stammered nervously. “You look great, too.”
We just stood looking at each other. I still couldn’t believe I made it to the dance.
Then the band started to play and Rick took me to the floor with a toe-tapping western tune that everyone swayed to. All those dance lessons my mother insisted on paid off. I followed Rick’s lead easily.
He smiled down at me. “I can’t believe you’re here,” he said.
“Either can I.” I smiled back at him, so happy I thought I’d burst.
Out of the corner of my eye, Lisa whirled by in Carl Culpepper’s arms, laughing. She didn’t lack for partners. Everyone liked Lisa. She was funny, kind and she was my best friend.
Music started for the second number and Jeff Cutler asked me to be his partner. It was nonstop from then on. The names and faces of my partners blurred. How different from the dances at the private school where I hugged the sidelines waiting to be picked to dance. Here, everyone danced. It didn’t matter if you were popular or not. I caught glimpses of Lisa twirling past. Finally, Rick claimed me for the fifth one.
“Aren’t you the busy one,” he remarked.
I laughed, “Yeah, I’ve never danced so much in my life. School dances in Boston were never like this.”
“What were they like?”
“Painful,” I replied. “We sat like pigeons on the sidelines, waiting to be picked.” I sighed, remembering those uncomfortable events. “I spent a lot of time on the sidelines.”
“The guys must have been blind.”
“Oh, Rick.”
I noticed Lisa talking to another group of kids, a bunch of ballots in her hand.
“What is she up to?” I asked, pointing.
“She’s on a mission not to have Pauline chosen as Dance Queen,” said Rick.
“Did you vote?” I asked.
“Sure did.” Then he added, “For you and for me.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I am not. Every vote counts.” He laughed. “Lisa’s determined we’re going to win.”
“That’s impossible,” I exclaimed.
“Is it?”
“Pauline’s gonna win. She wins every year, she’s been crowing about it all week.”
“I’m sure she was,” he agreed. “Maybe this year it will be different.”
“I doubt it,” I said, not giving it another thought.
“Let’s get something to drink.”
“Okay.” With his hand on the small of my back, Rick steered me to the refreshment table. A huge bowl of pink punch dominated it. He took two cups and gave one to me. We moved to the side.
“Here’s to us,” he said toasting me.
“And miracles,” I added.
We turned to go sit down when someone slammed into me.
“Watch out.”
It was too late. Pauline’s cup of punch spilled all down the front of my dress.
“Look what you made me do,” she screamed.
I stared at the pink stain covering half of my dress and the pink puddle of punch pooling on the floor beneath me.
Pauline held her empty cup and stared at me. I saw something else in her eyes; a glint of satisfaction.
I leaned over and grabbed her arm, my face inches from hers.
“That was deliberate,” I spat.
She looked startled and started to protest.
“Shut up,” I hissed so low no one else could hear.
Her eyes got big, her mouth opened. She stopped talking.
“You are hateful and evil,” I said holding her gaze with mine and tightening my grip on her arm. She struggled to shake me off and couldn’t.
“You better stay away from me if you know what’s good for you,” I growled.
She paled, and then blinked.
“And you better stay away from Rick Ferguson,” I added.
No one ever talked back to Pauline. Now I stared her down, called her bluff. Time stood still. It seemed like hours until her eyes shifted away from me.
“Get away from me,” I said disgustedly, letting go of her arm I gave her a slight push backwards. Then I turned my back and walked away. Pauline Richardson would never hurt me again — and she knew it.
“What did you say to her?” asked Lisa in awe.
“That’s between Pauline and me,” I replied.
“Come on, let’s fix your dress,” said Lisa pulling me along with her. Thankfully, the ladies room was almost empty.
“Maryann,” Lisa dabbed wet paper towels at the front of my dress, “Pauline is such a witch. She did it on purpose. I saw the whole thing.” Lisa shook with rage.
“I have to leave, Lisa. I can’t stay here like this. Just look at my dress,” I pointed to the huge pink stain.
“Wait here,” she said, throwing away the soggy towels. “I’ll talk to Mom.”
My first dance. My first date with Rick and now my dress was ruined. I couldn’t believe this happened.
Huddled by the sink, I splashed cool water on my face unable to look down at the damage to my dress. I grimaced at my reflection, trying hard
not to cry.
Girls came in and tried to console me. I waved them away.
“It’s no use,” I said. “My dress is ruined.”
“I can’t stand that Pauline,” one girl said.
“Yeah, me too,” another agreed.
Lisa burst in with my coat.
“It’s all arranged,” she said, helping me put on my coat. “Rick will take you to change, and then he’ll bring you back.”
“Rick?” I looked at her as if she were crazy. “Aunt Bess will never let that happen. She won’t let him on the ranch, let alone in the door.”
“Oh yes, she will,” said Lisa. “Mom just called her and explained what happened. Since Mom’s a chaperone, she can’t leave. So Rick will take you instead. Your aunt agreed. I mean what could she say? You need to change your dress.”
Lisa shuffled me out the door where Rick waited in the hall. Before I knew it, we were in his truck driving back to the ranch.
“Pauline better stay outta my way,” muttered Rick.
“I don’t think this is a good idea.” I didn’t care what Lisa said. Aunt Bess would be furious.
“It’s fine,” he replied taking my hand in his. “Your aunt said it’s okay.”
Thirty minutes later we got to the ranch and Rick parked in front of the house. He shut off the engine, then leaned over and kissed me.
“For luck,” he said grinning.
“Oh, Rick.” I felt like weeping.
Inside, Aunt Bess seemed more worried about my dress than Rick standing beside me.
“Look,” I cried, taking off my coat and gesturing to the front of my dress. “It’s ruined.”
Aunt Bess saw the hurt in my eyes. “I think we can get the stain out. You go change so we can get you back to the dance.”
“You don’t understand,” I shouted. “It’s ruined. Everything’s ruined. I’m not going back to the dance.”
Rick reached for me. I pushed him away, ran up the stairs and slammed the door. I took off the dress and stained slip, leaving them in a heap to the floor.
“Why did this have to happen to me tonight?” I cried and sat down on the bed beyond tears.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Go away,” I yelled.
The door opened.
Maryann's Appaloosa Page 9