Chapter Twenty-One
posted in Novel |
Lost and Found continues with this new chapter. I’m going to put this one and the next one on the blog this week — the next chapter will probably show up on Wednesday. The two chapters need to be read rather close together.
Then, there will probably be about a week or so hiatus from the writing and posting — until after the first of the year. My life will be quite busy with holiday stuff, so my computer time will be cut way back. I’m also guessing yours will be as well.
Until Wednesday …
Be well — be in peace,
Ron Rink
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During the spring I found out some things about girls I didn’t know before. Up until now they were just these other kids that played hopscotch and jump rope around the neighborhood or who stood in little gossipy clusters in the halls at school. They were these creatures boys my age didn’t pay attention to, other than to think of them as some sort of a bother.
Joanne Gross lived a few houses further north from Charlie Saunders on the same side of the street as both Charlie and me. The Gross’ lived in one of the older brick houses that had been there for many years. Joanne had a brother, Jack, who was two or three years older than her, and she was at least a year older than I was, if not more. Joanne was a pretty girl, with long brown hair that she often wore in braids, fascinating greenish-blue eyes and a sweet smile. She was about the same height as I was.
Whenever I rode my bike or walked past her house when she was outside, she would always smile and say “Hi”. Her mother and father owned a small five-and-dime store over on Seven Mile Road and were always gone during the day. Her brother Jack would have to go work in the store after school or during school vacations and Joanne would stay around her house.
One morning during a spring vacation from school I was riding my bike on my way to the horse track to see if I could get some work when Joanne called to me from her front porch as I rode by.
“Hi Rollie, where’re you going?” she called.
I stopped and stood straddling my bike. Rollie? No one had ever called me Rollie before!
“I’m just heading over to Hazel Park for awhile. Why?” I answered.
“I just wondered if you wanted to play jacks with me,” she said as she walked down her porch steps toward me.
“You want to play jacks with me?” I asked.
I don’t think Joanne had ever said more than “Hi” to me before this. I was surprised she would want to play with me, and the idea of playing games with a girl wasn’t something I found appealing.
She had the sun in her eyes and was holding her hand up to shield them as she smiled. “My brother and my parents are at the store for the whole day and I was just looking for someone to play with. Do you like to play jacks?”
“Yeah, but I’m not very good at it, I’ve only played a couple of times,” I lied. I knew what the game was but had never played.
This was quite a strange thing for me because I had never talked with a girl before. I found I was feeling shy and awkward around her. Plus, I would never be able to live it down if any of the guys I played hockey with ever found out I was playing games with girls. Maybe that’s why I felt it was necessary to lie to her.
“I – I should probably get going,” I said, and followed up with, “Do your parents care if you have kids over when they’re not home?”
“Nah. I usually have some of my girlfriends over but none of them are home today. They’re either visiting some people in their family or they’ve gone away somewhere with their parents. If you don’t want to play jacks, we have a ping-pong table too,” she said as she leaned on the handlebars of my bike. “Do you like ping-pong?”
“Yeah, but I haven’t played that much either.”
“I haven’t either but I’ll bet you can beat me! Come on, Rollie, park your bike and come in and play, just for a little while, okay?”
I reluctantly walked my bike up her side drive and leaned it against the side of her house as she led me around to her side door. She opened the door, pointed down the stairs to the basement and flicked on a light.
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