Masterpiece in Progress, Smith, TL [the unexpected everything .TXT] 📗

wasn’t sure that I hadn’t brought it on myself by agreeing to go with him or not fighting or saying “no”.

Once again, I reverted to "if you act like everything is okay, then no one will know" and it worked. It always does. Until it doesn't. Which in my case was MANY MANY years down the road.

Safely back at home, (and at my sister’s) I started sitting in with my friends and singing at the High-Hat Barn in Rudy, Arkansas.  It was there that I met a boy who would become my first love.  He was handsome, and ornery, and full of fun.  And he liked me.  His name was Danny Ray.  And he was about to turn my world upside down.

Chapter 8

Danny Ray

 

Danny Ray and I started seeing each other pretty soon after meeting.  He would come to town (he lived 8 miles out on a dirt road in the country), or my sister (or his mom) would pick me up and take me to his house.  Sometimes I would stay the night there if it got too late.  His momma made SURE we did not sleep together.  Little did she know (or maybe she did) we had already crossed that line.

He bought me a beautiful little promise ring that I just loved, and I thought he hung the moon.

He was 6 days older than me, but a year behind me in school.  I went to his first day of classes at his school his junior year.  It was crazy, meeting all his friends, and fielding their questions.  But it was fun.  And typical high school fodder.

We dated all through my senior year (his junior year) and then that summer, Edwina, and I went to California with my mom and grandpa.

He and I were determined to make this work, even with me being gone.  We promised each other we’d call as much as we could, and we’d write every day.

And the journey to California began.  Edwina and I were in the backseat of my grandpa’s green Plymouth Fury.  (Not dark green either, like pastel, mint, green).  Mom and grandpa would take turns driving.

Before we left, grandpa had purchased some Wiederkehr wine in Altus, Arkansas because he loved it and you couldn’t get it in California.  The cases were in the trunk.  It’s a long trip from Arkansas to California.  Part of through the hot desert.  And it was June.  Somewhere in Arizona, Edwina and I noticed the floorboards in the back seat were wet.  And it just got worse as we drove on.  And stinky.  We must’ve stopped somewhere because mom and grandpa figured out the corks had popped out of most of the wine bottles (at least one case) and the floorboard was soaked with wine.  Grandpa, in his always humorous mood, says, “That’s okay, just cut me a piece of the carpet and I’ll suck on it.”

That was just the first of many adventures that summer.  Danny Ray and I talked several times a week.  It drove my grandpa crazy.  He rigged up fake bugs to leave on the phone to scare me when I was expecting a call from him.  And I anxiously waited for the mail to run every day.  It wasn’t ideal for our relationship, but it was something.

He started calling Edwina “little Sally” because his daughter’s name is also Edwina (I called her aunt Wina) and he always called her Sally.

We visited Knott’s Berry Farm, the beach, the drive-in movies, went to a luau at the Moose Lodge with my mom (Edwina kissed the fire eater!), oh and my mom’s best friend tried to kill an undercover police officer with a canned ham she won at the Moose Lodge.  THAT was a crazy night.

The guy tried to get in mom’s friend’s car as they were dropping her off.  Well, mom’s friend also had HER mom with her, and she was still in the car.  My mom had gotten out and was coming into the house.  So Tacky (mom’s nickname for her friend) started swinging the ham at him!  What does he do?  Runs into our house and grabs the bb gun from behind the door.  He kept saying he was an undercover police officer and he was running from a gang.  He had scaled the back fence and tried to clear the front one but knocked it down when mom, Tacky and her mom pulled up to drop off.

Edwina and I were not sure what to think. I think we were just stunned as we watched this unfold.

The next thing I know, my mom has a hand crotched pink puppet on her hand.  I know this puppet holds her snub nose, nickel plated, 44.  And she’s got it trained on him as he’s moving around the front room and kitchen, all while grandpa was trying to verify who this guy really was.  Turns out he REALLY was an undercover police officer running from an angry gang that had made him.  I told you it was a crazy summer.

And the best part of that summer…..  JOURNEY!  We got to see Journey at the Rose Bowl with my sister Debbie.  Journey, Aldo Nova, and Blue Oyster Cult.  It was EPIC.  We all got shirts (Edwina just sent me a remake of mine from that summer!) and I got one for Danny Ray too.  He wore it for his yearbook picture.

Then we rode on a big truck with Edwina’s stepdad back to Arkansas in time to get ready to start school.

I was so excited to see Danny Ray.  Those last 20 miles to home were the longest of my life.  (They are still the longest when I’m anxious to see my family).

Danny Ray was glad to see me, but for some reason, he just had it in his mind that I had cheated on him when we were gone.  And that was not