"I'll hurry her along, Brad. Sit down while I tell her you're here."
"Hi, Brad."
"Hi. I--ah-hh, came by to walk you home. Andy dropped me off so I don't have a car."
"OK. It's warm out and you know I don't mind walking. I'll be ready in just a minute. Do you want to wait here?"
"Get finished up, Annie. I'll give Brad a Coke on the house to keep him quiet and happy."
In less than ten minutes Brad and Annie were walking slowly down Main street. A car passed quietly by going west but there was no one else walking.
"Norman’s a nice guy."
"But he doesn't pay much."
They looked at each other and laughed. They were both used to the lack of money and could appreciate the circumstance more than most kids their age.
"I haven't seen you very much, Brad. We don't even have any classes together this semester. Just home room."
"I'm getting caught up on all my college required courses. Most of the kids are skating this year but I goofed up so I have a big load."
"Our grades will be out Monday. Then it will really be over and we can relax.
"Your grades have been really good this year, Brad. I don't think you have to worry about them."
"I forgot you've been working in the office this year. I guess you know everyone's grades."
"No. Just yours and Janice's. You're my two best friends and the only people who count."
Brad felt their shoulders touch lightly when he turned in surprise.
She's so nice to me and is really interested in my grades. I never thought she cared so much for me.
I'd like to hold her hand. It's not even dark yet and it might bother her. I'd better not touch her.
If I ask her about the dance she's going to turn me down. I know she is.
"Are you in a hurry, Brad? It won't be dark for a while."
"No. I wasn't planning to do anything except to walk you home."
"Let's walk for a while then."
"Would you like to go somewhere in particular?"
"No place in particular. I just thought we could take a walk. Where did you leave your car?"
"It's at Andy's.”
She'll probably wants to go home now. She's going to think I set it all up and won't want to go anyplace with me.
I can feel her close to me. If I touch her hand maybe she'll hold it.
"Brad?" Her voice was so soft he had to leaned closer to hear her.
"Huh?"
She sounds unsure of her self.
"Can we walk over to Andy's and get your car? I'd like to go where you took me after the carnival. Do you remember?"
Who could forget. Holding you and making out with you on top of Crotched Mountain was the highlight of my year.
"I remember, it was Crotched Mountain and I'd like to take you up there again.
Do you want to call your mom, or swing by your house before we go to Greenfield?"
"I called her from Berube's before we left and told her I was with you and would be late.
"Do you go up on the mountain a lot? With girls?"
"We go up there hunting. You're the only girl I've ever taken up there."
Can I hold her hand? She doesn't seem to be mad at me. And she wants to be with me.
Walking slowly along side by side with Annie, Brad's heart started racing and skittering when he reached out and tentatively touched the side of her small soft hand. Annie turned the palm of her hand towards his and when her fingers encircled his they felt warm and dry. She squeezed Brad's fingers, moved her body closer against him, and it was just like she belonged there.
The down slope evening breezes hadn't started yet and only the Quaking Aspen leaves were reacting to the light vagrant breezes which kept slipping across the top of the ridge. Down below in the valleys that the daylight had already deserted, house lights were twinkling on here and there and although they were few and far between in this rural area, Brad could pick out a street light or two that he knew. A third of the way up in the sky from the western horizon Venus dominated even the sun's fading reds and purples.
Brad could feel Annie's rhythmic breathing against his rib cage as he held her tight and for a minute thought she had fallen asleep until she spoke quietly.
"I love this. It isn't very often I get to be alone in a place like this and can enjoy, I guess, just being."
"You're not exactly alone. I'm here too."
"You don't count. You're part of what I'm feeling and you belong here on this mountain and in the forest with me."
"I'm not sure I can handle all of this poetic talk. Brad interjected
Annie went on, ignoring Brad's interrupting comments. "We should enjoy the next few weeks together, Brad. I think we'll probably never see each other again after graduation week."
He watched the last of the reds fade away from around Venus and he felt Annie snuggle tighter against him. He had no answers and no idea of how to deal with her thoughts.
She's crying. Why in hell is she crying? I didn't touch her.
"Annie, you OK?"
"Sure, Brad, I'm fine. Have you got a hankie, please?
"Are you going to take me to the Commencement Dance? I hope so because I have a brand new gown to wear."
"Y-y-yes. If you want to go with me."
Hot damn. She asked me. She really asked me to take her to the dance.
"Can we have dinner in Elmdale before the dance? And go to get something to eat after the dance is over?"
"Of course. Everyone in the senior class will be doing the same thing."
"You won't drink will you, Brad? All those other guys, especially the jocks will be drinking beer or Coke with aspirin in it. You won't will you?"
"No. I don't drink, you know that."
"Yes I know, but sometimes people do weird things graduation week."
I'd like to kiss her. She smells so good and I have a hard-on. I hope she doesn't feel it. I'll die if she knows I have a hard-on.
As if Annie knew of Brad's desires, she turned her face up to him and in the soft glow of early evening showed him that she too felt something between them.
TWENTY FOUR
The Phillips's driveway seemed narrower than ever when Brad jockeyed the big green Pontiac in to it. He immediately wondered why he hadn't been smart enough to park on the street.
Before he got out of the car Brad wiped the nervous sweat off his hands on the liner of his double breasted suit jacket.
It was only the second time he had worn the charcoal gray suit and he still wasn't comfortable in it. On the night of their Senior Prom Annie told him how much she like it on him so he decided to wear it again. Besides, it bought for graduation and the Commencement Dance also being the only suit he owned.
It appeared that everyone in his class and family considered last night's graduation exercise as the big event of the year but Brad just considered it as anti-climatic to finishing his senior year with a high enough grade point average to get into the University of New Hampshire. Tonight was the event of greatest concern to Brad and images of all the possible things which could go wrong had been flashing through his mind all day.
Murphy's Law, something is going to go wrong. Annie is either going to change her mind or something will come up with Mom so I can't have the car.
I'll bet I'm going to go up to the front door and her mouthy little brother is going to be there to tell me Annie isn't home, or she's sick in bed and won't be able to go.
Oh, God, Powers found out she is going with me and beat her up. Shit! Would he?
Before he hurried across the scraggly and dusty brown lawn, he stole a quick look at the new graduation gift from his grandmother Benrus on his wrist.
I'm early, it's not quite 6:30. Oops, her corsage is in the car.
The transparent lidded flower box was still safe on the back floor behind the driver's seat exactly where Brad had put it when he left the fl
orist's in Elmdale. He picked up the box gingerly not quite sure how fragile the soft yellow rosebuds were.
When he turned back to the house Annie's mother had opened the front door and was patiently waiting for Brad. Her usual friendly, motherly smile made Brad feel secure and welcome.
"Hi, Mary. Not working this afternoon?"
"Where have you been, Brad? This is Saturday. You know, my day off."
"Oh yeah. I remember."
"Come on in. My daughter and your girl friend is anxiously awaiting your arrival. Even if you are early."
"Mom, you're going to embarrass me. Aren't you?"
"No, I’m not. Brad understands and he knows me well enough to know I'm just teasing a little to make him feel welcome."
Brad quickly looked around the inside of the house as he stepped through the door. He was expecting to hear Annie's brother's big mouth at any second.
"He's across the street. Mom gave him strict orders not to come home until we've left."
Annie was standing in the door to her little bedroom. Brad's eyes found hers and couldn't turn them loose. Their intense blue was holding his heart and mind. Both kids smiled shyly and Brad slowly broke his gaze away to let his eyes travel across her face and hair.
She had her straw colored hair brushed out softly around her face and the Cameo earrings Brad had given her last night for graduation were peeking out beneath it. Their soft green background matched the green of her sleeveless gown. He let his eyes go down her 5', 85 pound body and smiled in appreciation of her young woman's figure.
What a body! And she is so cute and soft looking.
"They're beautiful, Brad. Oh, Thank you so much.
Here sir, is your boutonniere. It's not as beautiful as my corsage but it will have to do."
"I don't think I would want anything as pretty as your corsage. People might look at me funny."
"I thought we were going with Andy and Margie?"
"I changed our minds."
I hope she doesn't care. I really don't want to be tied down with them all night. I'd rather bring her home alone.
"I thought it would be easier if we met them at the restaurant. Later we can do what we want."
As he held the passenger's door for her she hesitated and looked him in the eye before asking, "Do what, Brad?"
He felt the instant rush of heat across his cheeks and wrap around his ears and up the back of his neck as it always did when he was embarrassed.
She can see how red my face is. Damn it, why do I have to blush like this. Some people are lucky and never show their blush.
She might not want to go back up on the mountain tonight since she's all dressed up and if her mother said anything to her about us being out so late the other night.
"I thought maybe, well, huh.
"Maybe what, Brad?"
With a soft smile Annie kept sliding across the seat until she was on his side of the middle then she was almost under the steering wheel when she stopped. She slipped her left hand and arm under Brad's right arm which he was raising towards the gear shift lever. When he turned to her he couldn't help but lean closer towards her. She met him part way with soft pink lips slightly parted.
She isn't wearing red lipstick that's why she looks so soft.
"I hate to interrupt. But you should take a wrap with you, Annie."
"Thanks, Mom."
Brad watched the interplay between mother and daughter with interest. They had been in the middle of a less then chaste kiss when Mary had walked up to the car yet she had waited quietly until they separated before speaking. Annie showed no sign of being embarrassed or put out at her mother in anyway.
They met Andy and Margie in Elmdale for dinner as well as over half of the senior class and they all drove the four miles back up the highway to Wilmet and the high school gymnasium in an uninterrupted string of cars.
Annie and Brad shared the whole evening with no one but themselves. Neither asked to or accepted a dance with anybody else and between dances they sat quietly in a dark corner across from the stage and next to the folded up bleachers talking quietly or just being content to be in each other's company. When the bandleader announced the start of the last set of the evening, Brad took Annie's small hand in his and led her slowly out on to the middle of the basketball floor. The varnished hardwood floor reflected the blue and pink overhead lights and here and there was a streak of cornmeal on the floor. The slow waltzes flowed through them and they separated themselves further from the rest of the world in their own cocoon of caring and love. Brad continued to be amazed by what he was feeling for this petite woman. Not only was he continually aroused by her closeness and needed the trust she was placing in him, but he felt protective towards her like he never had in his short life for any other person.
Brad and Annie moved slowly in rhythm with each other. As the music slowed and came to an end they and many of the others on the packed dance floor just stood in place for many long seconds.
"Shall we go?" Brad spoke first breaking the magic spell of those last few minutes of being high school kids in love.
"Do you want to try to find Andy and Margie?" He added.
"We kind of told them we'd go get something to eat with them, Brad. At least I told Margie the last time I saw her in the ladies room. We could duck them if you wanted to, Brad."
"No. I don't think we should. In fact if I don't have to drive to Elmdale and back, we can sit in the back seat of the Lincoln and make out.
"Oow-oo! I didn't think it was that bad an idea."
"It was the leer on your face that deserved the punch in the arm, not the idea, Brad Burgess. Beside, I like the idea of making out with you right now. A little anyway."
"What does a little mean, Annie?"
"You'll see, we still have all night and it's only midnight."
He felt a nudge against his leg under the table.
"Brad, look who's at the end of the counter."
"I've been watching him. He won't look at me, but he tried to catch Annie's eye a couple of times before she and Margie went into the ladies room.
"Let's pay and then catch the girls when they come out of the restroom. I don't want to let him get near her without me close by, Andy."
"He doesn't worry you? He scares me, Brad.
"I'm sure those two in black jackets in the booth behind him are part of his gang."
"Count heads, Andy. It looks like Wilmet about forty and Elmdale ten. And of those ten only two are friends of Powers'. I'm not worried as long as he doesn't say anything to Annie.
"Come on, hurry up so we can get up to the counter before the girls get here."
"What do we have here? A pair of Wilmet wimps?" The words came out of Powers' mouth in a sneer and from the booth behind him his pair of followers snickered loudly.
"Powers, can you count?"
"What you mean jerk? Of course I can count."
"Are you a gambler then, Powers?"
"What's your problem, midget?"
"I'll give you odds of about forty to three that you had better stop bothering Annie Phillips."
The teenage bully stepped closer to Brad and leaned down in an attempt to intimidate him.
"And just what does that mean? Am I suppose to be afraid of you, midget?"
Brad started to feel the fear of the confrontation. Powers was four or five inches taller and sixty pounds heavier than he was. If the other Wilmet students decided they didn't have enough school spirit left to back him up Brad knew he was in deep shit.
Maybe I've overloaded my ass. He might not back down and all these high school heroes from Wilmet may just ignore the whole thing.
"She's my girl and you stay away from her, Powers."
"Oh, right. I'm real scared."
Brad watched Powers' two friends get out of the booth and start to step up beside their mouthy leader and caught an expression of uncertainty come into Power's eyes. Brad got a feeling o
f having someone step up behind him and knew it wasn't Andy. His friend wouldn't run, but he wouldn't crowd someone like Powers as Brad was doing.
"I'm tired of hearing you threatening a girl so why don't you swing at me, Powers? Then I can use a baseball bat on you with a clear conscience. You know, it would be self defense then bastard."
"I don't think that will be necessary, Brad. Mr. Powers is going to apologize to Annie and then he is going to leave here." Joanna Bishop’s soft familiar tones were a surprise to Brad. He hadn't seen her since they had left the dance and surely didn't know she was in the restaurant. He turned his head slightly and saw Annie's intense blue eyes watching him. There was a tear running from the corner of each eye but her face was softened by the small smile which was pulling at the corners of her mouth.
How long has Annie been standing there?
Brad smiled back as Joanna Bishop-Barlow stepped up beside Annie and her husband, Joe Barlow stepped up beside him. Joe was 5'11" and weighed a shade over two hundred pounds. He was an ex-sub sailor from World War II who worked on construction and still wore a crew cut.
Joanna spoke again. "Good bye, Mr. Powers. But don't forget the apology before you leave."
"Brad? Will we see you again before you leave for your new job up north?"
Brad remembered Joanna always had a knack to change the subject and go to something more positive after any kind of confrontation.
"I'm leaving Sunday morning, Joanna. I have to be in Berlin, Monday morning to start work."
"I think the kids really want to leave, Joanna. Tonight and tomorrow won't be time for parents and old school teachers." Joanna’s new husband added.
"She's not an old school teacher, Joe, she's a great school teacher."
"You can knock off the flattery, Brad. I can't help your grades or get you out of detention anymore.
"Can I share him with you for a minute, Annie?" Joanna asked the younger woman.
Her arms were strong across the back of his neck and the familiar scents made him inhale slowly through his nose to enjoy her closeness. Brad knew he would always remember her and the feel of her baby belly against him when her lips touched his in an unsisterly kiss.
"I always felt you should have been ten years older, Mr. Burgess." She spoke quietly with her lips touching Brad's ear as she gave him a last hug before stepping back beside her husband.