Girl, Friend, or Girlfriend?
At first, there is a bud. Then slowly develops a flower displaying its stunning colors and sweet fragrance. So too were David’s teen years starting out just as a bud waiting to bloom. In seventh grade a new kid sat on the sidelines like David. This shy girl had a quiet crush on David. She approached David and said timidly,” Hi.” David just nodded.
That was the beginning of David's first friend who happened to be a girl, or girlfriend? They met during recess. She was one grade below David, and she lived just one block away. Her name was Sue Van Dorn. She had very thick dark brown hair that was braided down the center to her mid-back. Her puppy-dog brown eyes with her round nose that flattens at the tip work wonders when she smiled. Sue’s daily fashion was a tailor shirt with jean pants. That type of clothing made her appear much like a tomboy. Sue very much needed to switch to adult female blouses for puberty blest her with a noticeable chest. Why did she approach David? He seemed just as shy as she was. There was nothing to lose. If he was too shy or didn’t want anything to do with her, he would just go back into his shyness-shell.
Sue enrolled late into the school term because of her family moving from California to Illinois after her father's death. She was the youngest of four girls. Her sister’s names were Charity, Hope, Faith, and then there was Sue. Products of the 1960 hippie generation. Why did the name-theme stop? Her mother always loved her grandmother’s name Susan. “And the name Love just didn’t seem to work,” Sue’s mother once told David.
Also in seventh grade another late enrolled student just entered into David’s realm, Carol West. She was in a different classroom with a different teacher. She also approached David during recess saying, “Hello. My name’s Carol. What’s yours?”
David nodded and said in a small voice, “David.”
On her round face, Carol had dark brown eyes that darted back and fore when she looked into one eye and then into the other eye -- back and fore they went. Her hair had the same color as Sue, but it was not as thick. The length of Carol’s hair was shorter than Sue’s hair by three inches. And she seem a slight bustier than Sue.
Carol’s father was a minister of the United Church of Christ in Ohio who received a new charge in Chicago, thus her late enrollment into the school. The only reason Carol talked to David; she was trying to find her rank with the student body. She ended being tagged with the cool kids. The cool kids who smoked, both cigarettes and pot, and drank beer out of the view of adults. David was out league with that group. As quickly went their first encounter, there ended their acquaintance, until High School.
That was the beginning of David's first friend who happened to be a girl, or girlfriend? They met during recess. She was one grade below David, and she lived just one block away. Her name was Sue Van Dorn. She had very thick dark brown hair that was braided down the center to her mid-back. Her puppy-dog brown eyes with her round nose that flattens at the tip work wonders when she smiled. Sue’s daily fashion was a tailor shirt with jean pants. That type of clothing made her appear much like a tomboy. Sue very much needed to switch to adult female blouses for puberty blest her with a noticeable chest. Why did she approach David? He seemed just as shy as she was. There was nothing to lose. If he was too shy or didn’t want anything to do with her, he would just go back into his shyness-shell.
Sue enrolled late into the school term because of her family moving from California to Illinois after her father's death. She was the youngest of four girls. Her sister’s names were Charity, Hope, Faith, and then there was Sue. Products of the 1960 hippie generation. Why did the name-theme stop? Her mother always loved her grandmother’s name Susan. “And the name Love just didn’t seem to work,” Sue’s mother once told David.
Also in seventh grade another late enrolled student just entered into David’s realm, Carol West. She was in a different classroom with a different teacher. She also approached David during recess saying, “Hello. My name’s Carol. What’s yours?”
David nodded and said in a small voice, “David.”
On her round face, Carol had dark brown eyes that darted back and fore when she looked into one eye and then into the other eye -- back and fore they went. Her hair had the same color as Sue, but it was not as thick. The length of Carol’s hair was shorter than Sue’s hair by three inches. And she seem a slight bustier than Sue.
Carol’s father was a minister of the United Church of Christ in Ohio who received a new charge in Chicago, thus her late enrollment into the school. The only reason Carol talked to David; she was trying to find her rank with the student body. She ended being tagged with the cool kids. The cool kids who smoked, both cigarettes and pot, and drank beer out of the view of adults. David was out league with that group. As quickly went their first encounter, there ended their acquaintance, until High School.
It seem where David went, there was Sue. Mind you, were referring to David’s places. It’s not hiding spots, but they were in locations that most people would not look for. One such place was the tree right outside the Gunnell’s front door. The closest branch was about 18 feet above the ground. Not a suitable tree for climbing. David once saw on television how coconuts were cut down. A person would climb the tree by hugging the trunk with their arms and legs, and scurry up the tree. David barely got his arms around the tree’s trunk, but was able to get to the 18 foot high branch by following the example from the television show. The rest of the climb was easy with its many branches near at hand. Up there in the tree’s top, David could see well above neighborhood’s roofs. People passing by had no idea that someone was watching them from up above. Once, David climbed this tree and there was Sue within its branches. He never thought of looking up into the tree before climbing.
Another spot was a tree that was at the end of the block: a weeping willow in a park behind St. George’s High School. These superb tree’s branches bend and touch the ground making an interior hut. A great place to read or draw while sitting with your back against the tree’s wide trunk. On a hot summer day, it flabbergasted David how much cooler it was within this tree’s hut. Odd that none of the students or Catholic brothers use this yard. Once again, David found Sue there waiting for his entrance. Of course, she was at the neighborhood park’s baseball field. Many times as David approach the park to play with Richard, David’s younger brother, there was Sue up to bat. And she was pretty good at playing baseball. Richard was reluctant at first putting a girl on his team, but learned that her arm could swing and hit the ball for at least a double, if not a triple play. It seemed that she was trying to impress David. All the baseball playing did was showed David that she was better at baseball than David’s many strike outs.
Another spot was a tree that was at the end of the block: a weeping willow in a park behind St. George’s High School. These superb tree’s branches bend and touch the ground making an interior hut. A great place to read or draw while sitting with your back against the tree’s wide trunk. On a hot summer day, it flabbergasted David how much cooler it was within this tree’s hut. Odd that none of the students or Catholic brothers use this yard. Once again, David found Sue there waiting for his entrance. Of course, she was at the neighborhood park’s baseball field. Many times as David approach the park to play with Richard, David’s younger brother, there was Sue up to bat. And she was pretty good at playing baseball. Richard was reluctant at first putting a girl on his team, but learned that her arm could swing and hit the ball for at least a double, if not a triple play. It seemed that she was trying to impress David. All the baseball playing did was showed David that she was better at baseball than David’s many strike outs.
Slowly her timid self was evaporating while around David. Consequently, she came to the Gunnell’s front door asking for David. As much as she was pushing herself on to David, he didn’t mind. She clothed herself in a strong suit and brought one for David as well. It wasn’t just a new experience for David. It was a new insight for him. Here was someone outside his family, his age, and wanted to be his friend. That started David to think about himself. What he liked. What his needs are.
They sat outside the Gunnell’s extremely small cement front porch spending time talking about their ideas and wishes. They walked to the McDonald’s at the borderlines of Evanston and Chicago for lunch. They walked around their neighborhood seeing colors in a new way. Even colors of the cosmos came forth. Both of them marvel at their first site of the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, playing in the north wind, Borealis**. The friendless had found companionship. Together they wore matching strong suits.
They sat outside the Gunnell’s extremely small cement front porch spending time talking about their ideas and wishes. They walked to the McDonald’s at the borderlines of Evanston and Chicago for lunch. They walked around their neighborhood seeing colors in a new way. Even colors of the cosmos came forth. Both of them marvel at their first site of the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, playing in the north wind, Borealis**. The friendless had found companionship. Together they wore matching strong suits.
Inside the weeping willows’ made hut, escaping the heat of the late summer, David’s back was supported by the tree’s mighty trunk, and Sue’s head resting in his lap. She dazes at the dangling branches as the wind gently sway them in a dance. He strokes her thick hair between his fingers seeing how her hair luster when the sun peeked through the dancing branches. Both in a new found peace within themselves. They both watched the branches dance, and took pleasure in the cool tree’s shade. The peace song within grew from being in both of them. Pure innocents. Still combing her hair with his finger, he put his free arm across her chest. She places her hand on his forearm and gently massages it. They sat relishing the ballet of the tree and heard its melody grow loud in their hearts. In sync with the beat of the music, their eyes linked their spirits. The spirits contained in their bodies move them. Sue sat up from David’s lap, turn to him, and lean towards him. She closes her eyes. David’s eyes are wide open. Their lips touch.
They sat in the willow’s hut till the early evening.
_______________________________________
** It is rare for the Aurora Borealis to be seen so
far south into Chicago. At first, they thought it
was an UFO.
They sat in the willow’s hut till the early evening.
_______________________________________
** It is rare for the Aurora Borealis to be seen so
far south into Chicago. At first, they thought it
was an UFO.