on high alert. She guessed it had to be about the weird changing terrain, but there was something about this boy. He smiled as he drove. She pretended to be looking over his shoulder at the trees, as if trying to understand the strange effect she’d experienced, and yet kept him in her peripheral vision at all times. Suddenly the terrain seemed completely familiar. The trees were thinner, the gloom lifted, dark green light became bright, vivid summer green, and she felt herself relax. It wasn’t until they had driven to about where the turnoff from the main road onto the logging road should have been that she suddenly wondered why this boy was on this road, and how he’d gotten around the locked gate.
“How did you get in here?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“The gate was locked when I walked in here.” She realized suddenly that he would have had to cut the lock. The boy just smiled by way of responding.
She realized that she had revealed her hand somewhat in admitting that she’d taken a logging road “on the way to town”. The boy didn’t seem concerned about this, but merely grinned as he continued to drive. Why was her head pounding?
They reached the gate. The boy kicked the wheel to the right, and the old Jeep – not as wide as a car – eased past the pole holding the gate on one side, and the trees nearest it. He turned his head to her and said “No sweat.” As the noisy Jeep strained onto the main road to town. Once at highway speed, the noise of the old engine and the wind from the open top made conversation impossible.
As they approached the edge of town, the boy slowed the jeep, coming to a full stop just before the first cross street.
“How’s this?” he said, still smiling.
“Thanks, this is great.” She said, although she wondered why they’d stopped short of driving to the small square of shops. She climbed down and turned to thank him again, but the boy, still smiling, was already shifting into gear. She watched as he turned the jeep and drove back in the direction they’d come.
Delcie and Jen
Delcie didn’t feel like going into the stupid library, especially now that she was more than a little shook up. She was pissed. She’d obviously been the brunt of some local jackass’s prank, and she was not accustomed to being treated like this.
“Delcie! Over here.” She heard her mom’s voice behind her.
“I thought you were going to the library.”
“I was, honey. I got through in a minute and was heading back to get you.” Her mother said as she walked up to her tan young daughter.
“I’m glad you didn’t go back to the store, like I did!” Delcie said, then thought better about telling her mother what had happened. For some reason, she thought she’d keep it to herself. Still, she was pissed.
“Can we go home now?” she said, her voice sighing in sarcastic singsong.
“Yes, honey. What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. Let’s just go.”
As they were pulling out of the parallel parking slot, they heard a knock on the rear side passenger window. Both turning, they saw a young, tan, strawberry blonde girl in shorts and tank top looking in at them, saying something they couldn’t hear. Delcie’s mom rolled down the back windows.
“Hi! Hey, are you headed back to the lake?” the girl said, tossing her head back towards the county road that cut back along the east side of the lake.
“Sure are. You need a ride?” her mom said cheerfully. The girl got in the back.
“Thank you so much. I’m Jen. I walked all the way in and was going to walk home, but it looks like it might rain.”
Delcie was delighted to meet one of her own kind – teen, pretty, smart, probably from a family with money, obviously not a “towny”.
“Hey! I’m Delcie.”
“Hey! Nice to meetcha.” Jen said, and they shook hands. Jen thought she seemed a little pretentious at first, but she was so happy to be in a car with normal people, headed back down her normal road to her normal lake house, she didn’t give it much thought. Delcie spoke:
“Are you here for the summer?” she asked, assuming Jen was.
“Yeah. My folks have a cabin on Webb cove.”
“Oh, we’re just two coves away on Dittweiler road.” Delcie’s mom said, at which Delcie shot her a look for giving away their obviously not upscale address. She guessed it was ok, though since there weren’t any homes on Webb cove to brag about, either. She looked back at Jen, though, smiling.
Jen liked her. She saw – or perceived, somehow – that, despite the pretension – she was good. Her eyes were “good”. They smiled at each other.
“Where are you from?” Jen said, assuming Delcie was just summering there as well. Delcie noted this and was appreciative. Especially since she now got to brag about their year round address.
“Oakland Heights. I go to Princewood.” Delcie said. This was both a statement of entitlement and a query to see if Jen was upscale enough to even know of her private school.
“Oh, cool. I’m from DeKalb. I just go to public school there. I’m a senior this year.”
“Me, too.” Said Delcie, the pretension no longer necessary now that she knew she was the richest kid in the car. Also, just a bit of childlike glee at finally becoming a senior herself.
“Delcie has an aunt that lives in DeKalb. Penny Leigheit. Do you know her?” Delcie’s mom asked.
“Of course she doesn’t, Mom. DeKalb is, like, a big city now.” Delcie said. In one of those strange things that just seem to happen to Jen, it turned out that she did know Penny Leigheit. She had been her Girl Scout den mother and told them so.
“No way!” Delcie said, with mostly genuine surprise.
“Yeah! She’s great. I loved Scouts back then. Seems like a long time ago.”
“Oh, she’s still a den mom.” Delcie’s mom said. Penny was her husband’s sister, and although she didn’t really like her at all, she tolerated her. She always felt as if her husband’s sister hadn’t thought that he’d married a bit “beneath” them.
“Where are you going to go to school?” Delcie asked, playing another trump card, knowing that she’d already been accepted at Minot, the best Liberal Arts college in the state.
“Minot. I just got the acceptance letter before we came up here.” Jen said, deflating Delcie just a bit, but Delcie felt a connection with Jen, too, and was genuinely excited, saying “Me, too!”
The two talked about this and were pretty good friends by the time they got to the dam side of the lake, announcing the upcoming cove roads. A light afternoon rain had begun to fall from scattered clouds, despite mostly blue sky.
“Mom, can Jen and I take the car and get something to eat in town tonight?” Delcie asked, knowing full well that her mom would never say No in front of a relative stranger.
“I suppose. Where will you eat?”
“Does it matter?” Delcie said, in a slightly prissy little voice. Jen could still see through this, though. Despite the attitude, she could tell that Delcie was not only nice, but smart. And that Delcie probably either didn’t know this, or, if she did, think it was any sort of thing to be proud of.
“I suppose not. You’ll have to check with your dad, though.” Her mom said, playing the only strategic card she had. If anyone said No to Delcie it was Edward, her husband, and that was a rare occasion.
“Oh, he won’t care…” Delcie said, turning back to Jen.
“I just need to check with my folks first.” Jen said. She sincerely doubted that they’d be anything but surprised that she’d found a friend to go to dinner with.
They pulled into the gravel circle drive in front of Jen’s lake house. She felt a little embarrassed at the humble façade. Delcie was relieved to know that Jen’s was no better than theirs.
“Come on in, Delcie. I’ll introduce you to my parents.”
“Cool!” Delcie said, and the two hopped out and walked towards the house.
“I am SO glad I found someone to talk to!” They said almost in unison hoarse
stage whispers, then fell to laughing, leaning against each other as they walked.
Delcie Tells Her Story
“Sorry the car is so trashed.” Delcie said. The car was anything but trashed. It was a brand spanking new BMW SUV and Jen didn’t even think it had time to get dusty yet, much less grubby.
“Are you kidding? We’re driving an old minivan around up here.” Jen said. She knew enough about Delcie now to know that she would lose at a game of “whose family is more upscale?” anyway, so she addressed it directly. She was very middle class, and Delcie may as well know it. Besides, she hoped that it would serve to tone Delcie’s attitude down a little. It did.
“Oh, this is my dad’s company car. He writes it off as a tax thingy…” Delcie said. “Anyway, I can’t believe they let me take it!” which was of course, not true. She knew they would. Jen knew this, too.
“Yeah! I am so sick of staring at my little brother over the linoleum top kitchen table!” Jen said.
“I’m an only kid, but that doesn’t make it any better up here.” She said. “I’d give anything to have somebody to talk to most days. Booooorrrrring! Especially if it were a cute guy…”
“I met one today, kind of.” Jen said.
“No way! Not a towny, was he?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know. It was kind of strange.”
“I met a towny today in that creepy little department store. He was cute in a weird sort of way. What’s weird is that he gave me a dead rose. At least, I think it was a dead rose. It looked OK when he gave it to me. It was very weird…”