It didn’t take Jeff and Eunice long to eat breakfast in the dining hall, and soon they were walking down the street to the car wash where Jeff kept the Nash. It was a morning that showed the promise of the oncoming spring, and walking a couple blocks was actually a joy. “It’ll be nice to be off campus for a while,” she said. “I always feel like people are watching every move I make while I’m there.”

“They do look right down your neck, don’t they?” he replied. “I suppose I’m used to it but I still don’t like it. But I suppose it’s not going to change. My parents looked right down my neck until I came here, and they’ll be doing it again as soon as I’m done with this place and move back home. I wish that wasn’t the way things are, but they are whether I like it or not.”

“I suppose,” she agreed. “But it’s that way for me, too. If anything, you have it easier because you’re a guy. Isn’t there some way you can move away and be your own person?”

“Oh, there might be,” he said. “But I’m not real sure I want to. I mean, having my folks on my back all the time is sort of the price I’ll have to pay for having a good, secure job. I figure it’s not worth the effort to look elsewhere. In a way, I envy Eric for that.”

“Why do you envy him?”

“Basically, unlike me he doesn’t have anything lined up for what he’s going to do after college, and he doesn’t have much of a family safety net. He’ll have a few bucks left over from his trust fund from his grandfather when he gets out of college, but not a lot. However, he doesn’t seem to be worried about it. Mostly I’m glad it’s him and not me.”

“I suppose you’re right,” she sighed. “That would have to be awful scary.”

“It doesn’t seem to bother him,” Jeff told her as they got to the old green Nash. He led her over to it, unlocked the right side door and held it for her while she got in. Then he went around to the driver’s side, got in, and started the car up. “Kind of chilly in here right now but it’ll warm up pretty well,” he continued.

“I’m not complaining,” she said as she got settled in. “But it seems strange that you’d choose a Nash.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” he sighed as he pulled out onto the street. “Some guy got several hundred bucks behind on his oil bill and couldn’t pay it up. Dad worked out a deal to take this car for it instead so I’d have something to drive around college. I don’t know for sure but I’d guess he got it for less than it was worth.”

“That sounds familiar,” she smiled. “My dad has sold a few cars like that. I mean, people who come in and wind up not being able to afford the repair bill. Sometimes they’re not worth much of anything, but sometimes he makes out on it a little. He usually has a car around I can drive when I’m home.”

“It’s been nice to have one for getting off campus. Eric and I haven’t done a lot of double dates like we’ve had the past couple of weeks, but like we were talking earlier, it’s nice to be able to get away from Meriwether for a while.”

“Yes, it is. In a way I’m going to be sorry to have to spend another year on campus. Even though I’ll be twenty-one, it will get heavy at times. I don’t think I’m going to be sorry to see my time there done.”

“Me either,” he agreed. “I mean, I know I’m going right into the oil company, but Dad seems to think I can learn something that will be useful. Me, I’m not so sure, but he’s paying the bill and it may be the only break from Wychbold I get in my life.”

They spent the next several miles south of town talking about Vertigo, and the possibilities of a few other movies they might want to see, but before long they’d exhausted the subject. “I’m a little curious,” she asked. “What are you going home for, anyway?”

“To be honest, I’m not going home,” he told her, “but I do have to pick something up.”

“What’s that?”

“There’s a liquor store in Hawthorne that’s not too careful about checking IDs,” he explained reluctantly. “Or else they don’t care, and I’m not sure which, but I’ve been able to buy from there for a couple of years without being carded. I’m just going to get two or three bottles, enough to get through the rest of the year.”

“What kind of bottles?” she asked.

“Rum and bourbon,” he replied. “Both mix well with Coke, and sometimes I need one or two to wind down after a tough day.”

“I understand. Dad usually has two or three beers after he gets home from work, and usually he needs them. I’ve had rum and Cokes at home a few times. They’re not bad. I like them better than beer.”

“I hope I won’t have to do it this way much more,” he told her. “It’s not going to be long before I turn twenty-one, and all this horsing around won’t matter.”

“Especially if you’re living off campus,” she smiled.

“No fooling. When Eric and I get our apartment, there won’t be any housemasters snooping around to see if we’ve hidden booze somewhere. That’s really going to make life easier.”

“Does Eric drink too?”

“Some,” he admitted. “He’ll get a little happy every now and then if he thinks there’s a reason to. Not often.”

“The two of you seem to be very good friends.”

“Eric is without a doubt the best friend I’ve ever had.” He let out a sigh and went on. “Eunice, for some reason I’m not a person to make friends easily. At least, I never really have been. There used to be a kid I played with a lot back when we were in grade school, but his family moved away and I have no idea where. I missed Ronnie a hell of a lot until after I got assigned to room with Eric. It took us a while to get used to each other, but we get along. I know that in a year and a little more I guess we’re pretty much going to go our separate ways, and I’m going to miss the hell out of him. How about you and Donna?”

“We’re friends,” she sighed. “I don’t want to say best friends or anything, but we get along. I guess I’m like you in that I don’t have very many close friends. Donna, well, she has other things on her mind than just being friends with me, and I’ve gotten used to it. But I guess I’m like you. I’m not looking forward to seeing those days come to an end. Donna has been, uh, I guess you’d have to say a different kind of friend than I had in high school. I mean, it makes a difference that she doesn’t know me from high school or anything.”

“I’m sure that must have something to do with why Eric and I are close friends. I mean, we don’t have all that old high school stuff hanging over us.”

“That’s one thing in our favor,” she grinned. “We didn’t know each other in high school. Maybe that’ll help us be closer friends.”

“I sure hope so,” he told her. “I think we’re off to a good start.”

Eunice, you might be onto something, she thought. There’s no telling at this point if this is going to work out in the long run, but it’s off to the best start I’ve ever had. Jeff may not be the perfect guy, but he’s here, seems interested, and that counts for a lot.

Jeff knew the road south to Wychbold all right, but he was a little less clear on the route to Amherst. There was no problem with that; she knew the way, after all. It was not a fast road, since there were a number of towns and villages and speed zones that had to be worked through, a couple of them notorious speed traps where Eunice told Jeff to be extra careful. He didn’t have his arm around her all the time, and definitely not in towns where he had to shift gears. At least it gave his arm a chance to rest once in a while, but given a choice he knew he’d rather have it around her.

One of the nice things about the route was that it took them right through Hawthorne, so Jeff could stop off and stock up on rum and bourbon while Eunice stayed in the car. Soon the booze was locked in the trunk and they were on the road again. Jeff told her that he’d bought enough to get him through the rest of the school year, at least if he was a little careful with it. He might have to make a trip or two to Hawthorne over the course of the summer, but by fall he’d be twenty-one and the whole ID hassle and everything that went along with it would be in the past. He could hardly wait.

Soon they were on the road again. While Jeff hadn’t come this way before, she had and knew it couldn’t be more than another fifteen or twenty minutes to Amherst. “That’s really all you had to do, isn’t it Jeff?” she asked.

“Pretty much,” he admitted. “I don’t really want to go by my folks house and have to cook up some explanation of why I showed up for a couple hours on a Saturday.”

“Then why don’t you just stay around Amherst with me for a while?” she said. “It’ll take me a few minutes to get the clothes and things I need, but there won’t be much. I would be surprised if Mom didn’t ask us to stay for lunch.”

“I suppose I can, but I wouldn’t want to put your folks out.”

“Oh, I doubt they’ll feel put out,” she smiled. “We may be getting a little ahead of the truth, but this is going to be the first time I’ve ever brought a boy home.”

“Wow, you make it sound like this is getting serious.”

“I hope it doesn’t sound that bad, but Jeff, I don’t quite know how to say this but I wouldn’t mind surprising them with it. I mean, showing up with a boyfriend isn’t something they expect of me.”

He began to get the picture. “It sounds like you haven’t had very many boyfriends.”

“No, just one,” she said. “And maybe I’m pushing the definition a little, but I don’t mind if you don’t.”

“You’re saying I’m the only boyfriend you’ve ever had?”

“Well, since grade school,” she smiled. “I guess I wasn’t very popular and I didn’t go out much. I hope you don’t mind, Jeff.”

“What’s to mind?”

“That I’d be letting my folks think I have more of a boyfriend than I really have. Oh, that didn’t come out right at all. I know we’re not really a boyfriend and girlfriend, but I’m hoping we can be.”

“I’ll be on my best behavior,” he promised, “but don’t say more than you have to. Don’t tell them I’m your boyfriend, but just let them think it.”

“Of course,” she grinned, “I’m perfectly willing to do that.”

Whatever they actually were to each other at this point, Eunice thought it was interesting to watch the tizzy her mother went through when she showed up unexpectedly with a boy, friend or whatever. Eunice told her mother the truth, of course – that Jeff had to make a quick trip home to pick up a few things and she’d come along for the ride. But she managed to say it casually in such a way that Jeff half expected her mother was thinking about what she was going to wear to the wedding. It was certainly fun to watch, even though Eunice mildly protested that she and Jeff had only been out on a few dates and had eaten some meals together in the dining hall.

The offer of lunch came along quickly, as Eunice had expected. Once it had been accepted, nothing could stop Eunice’s mother Kate from calling her father Bill, to tell him to come home for lunch and meet the guy who had just dropped in with Eunice.

Eunice, of course, was exceptionally pleased with herself, especially when Bill showed up a few minutes later in his shop clothes.

It turned out that Jeff got along well with Bill and Kate Dexter right from the start, and if anything, more so when they found out Jeff’s father owned Harrington Oil. “I thought you must have a good head on your shoulders,” Bill said. “You don’t often see a college kid driving a Nash. Usually it’s some damn hot rod, or maybe some damn sports car.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a Nash,” Jeff said, realizing that he was impressing Eunice’s father for a totally unexpected reason. “They get good gas mileage, you know.”

“Yeah, but you’re just about the first college kid I ever saw who gives a darn about gas mileage. The only mileage they seem to be interested in is how long it takes to get through a quarter mile. Cripe, I’ve got the perfect example of a college kid car sitting out back of the shop that I sure would like to get rid of.”

“What is it?”

“A Triumph TR-2,” Bill snorted. “An English sports car. Damn kid stuck it in the wrong gear and bent the valve train all to hell. It took me months to get the parts to fix it, and they weren’t cheap. Now, there’s no sign of the kid and I’m out nearly seven hundred bucks in parts. I don’t know how I’m ever going to get rid of it or get my money out of it. You wouldn’t happen to know anyone who might like the darn thing, would you?”

Jeff’s ears perked up. “What would you have to have for the thing?”

“Seven hundred bucks, just to break even on the parts. It’s probably worth more than that but I just want to get it out of my hair. If I knew I had a buyer I’d slap a mechanic’s lien on it and get it out of here.”

“It’s not the sort of thing I’d want,” Jeff replied. “But I know someone who might be interested. All I can do is ask.”

“So ask. It’s all fixed up and fixed right, but I want nothing more than to be rid of the thing.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Jeff promised. “I probably ought to take a look at it so I can tell the guy I’ve seen it.”

“There’s no point in doing it before lunch,” Mrs. Dexter said. “You could go look on your way back.”

“Sure, that’d work,” Jeff said.

Lunch proved to be pretty good. Of course, both of Eunice’s parents wanted to know more about Jeff, about what the two kids were doing together, and, realistically, if it looked serious. Both Jeff and Eunice managed to be fairly noncommittal while leaving the impression that there was some fire burning behind their smokescreen – which is about what they wanted to do anyway.

The visit could have gone on longer, but both Jeff and Eunice said they had to be getting back because they had studying to do, and fibbed that they had a stop to make over in Wychbold. As a result the interrogation didn’t get dragged out as long as it might have. Soon, the two of them were back in the Nash, following Eunice’s father over to the Sinclair station.

Sure enough, the car was sitting out back of the station. The little yellow two-seater looked dirty, probably from all the soot from the coal furnaces in the area, but the dust was something that could be dealt with. The top and side curtains were up and, so there was little indication of weather damage when Jeff looked inside. Eunice’s dad handed him the key, and it started up with a peppy little four-cylinder roar that sounded all right to Jeff, for all he knew. As he got out of the car he noticed that there was a roll bar bolted in behind the driver’s seat.

“It’d be a nice enough little car for the right buyer,” Jeff said as he handed the key back to Bill. “No promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“I’d really appreciate it if you could help me get the darn thing out of here,” Bill replied.

“I’ll do what I can.”

Soon Jeff and Eunice were back in the Nash, headed out of Amherst, sitting chastely separate in the front seat – at least as long as her parents could see them. “Are you sure you don’t want to go over to Wychbold and see your parents?” she asked.

“It would be nice, but I do have to get you back sometime today,” he replied. “If you think your parents got worked up over you bringing me home, you haven’t seen anything. When it comes to me bringing a nice girl like you home, my folks are going to be even worse. There’s no point in going through that hassle twice in one day. Besides, if we do go over there Mom is going to insist that we stay for dinner, and the next thing you know we’ll be pushing curfew to get you back at all.”

“Come on, it can’t be that bad!”

“Seems to me you said something like that, too.”

“Well, yeah,” she replied sheepishly. “I guess I did.”

“Besides, we’re going to have plenty of other chances to do it. It’s not that far between Wychbold and Amherst, and summer break is coming.”

“Yeaaah,” she replied slowly and thoughtfully. “I guess it’s just a little hard for me to realize it’s not that far off. Are you going to be doing anything this summer?”

“Working at the oil company. There’ll be stuff to do, some of it in the office, some of it out back. It’s the slow season, so I won’t be working full time. That ought to give us some chances to get together.”

“We ought to be able to think of a few things to do,” she smiled. “Living with my folks is about as bad as having to put up with the dorm housemothers, but the housemothers aren’t all that interested in the progress of your romantic life.”

“Except to make sure you don’t have one, at least from what I hear.”

“Oh, they don’t mind if we have a romantic life,” she grinned. “Just so long as there’s no kissing, no touching, and especially no that, if you get what I mean. I mean it’s not like I ever actually had one, at least till now. Well, maybe, that is.”

“You’re all right, Eunice,” he grinned. “You really are all right, and I hear what you’re saying. I don’t think we want to push each other too far just yet, but we can have quite a bit of fun over the summer, at least if you’re up for it.”

“Oh, I am,” she smiled. “Were you just pulling Dad’s leg about that car, or what?”

“Yes and no,” he said. “I really wouldn’t mind having a car like that sometime, because it might be fun. But not right now, not with the way your father was spouting off.”

“It probably wouldn’t be a good idea,” she agreed. “I wouldn’t mind a ride in a sports car on a nice summer day, but I don’t think I’d want to have to drive it every day. Do you really think you know someone who would buy it?”

“Yes and no on that one, too. I know someone who would really like to own one, but I don’t know if he has the money. I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me if he did, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t either.”

“Who’s that?”

“Eric, of course,” Jeff snickered. “I mean, he hasn’t been spouting off about it all the time, but I know he’d like a car like that.”

“Why?”

“To pick up women, of course. There’s something about cars like that which attracts women. You even said you’d like to take a ride in it. You take a guy like Eric and a car like that, and he’s going to be picking and choosing.”

“But he’s going with Donna, isn’t he?”

“Sure, but for how long? I don’t exactly see them lighting fires with each other. Eric hasn’t really said anything to me about it, but I suspect at least part of the reason that he went with Donna and us was to make it a little easier for you and me to be together. Well, that and he was bored, and the movie was something to do.”

“You think so?”

“I’m no expert when it comes to people, but I think I understand Eric about as well as anyone can. My guess is that Eric is looking for a good time, not anything permanent. He and I are different in a lot of ways. Part of it comes from the fact that my career is pretty well tied down and his isn’t.”

She gave it a moment’s thought. “You could be right,” she finally said. “I guess I don’t see Donna as being real serious about him, either. She probably was willing to go on a double date for the sake of something to do, and it may well be the two of them did it as a way to get us together. Let’s face it, I’m shy. I probably wouldn’t have gone on that date if Donna hadn’t been there to make me to do it.”

“That’s what I think,” he agreed, “and let’s face it. I wouldn’t have had the guts to ask you if Eric hadn’t pushed me pretty hard. But I’m glad I took him up on it. We’ve had some fun and there’s no reason we can’t have more of it.”

“You know,” she grinned, “I’m glad I took Donna up on it, too.”

It was earlier in the afternoon than they’d originally planned when they got back to Meriwether. After a quick kiss in the car, Jeff helped Eunice carry her things as far as the dorm door. “I’ve got a paper I need to work on, but it should only take a couple hours,” she told him. “Let’s get together at the dining hall for dinner and see what happens from there.”

Eunice headed upstairs, thinking about the pleasant day she’d spent with Jeff. He was a nice guy and she was coming to like him. She knew she was about as plain looking as a paper sack, but apparently that didn’t bother Jeff much. They had been friendly and she had proved that she could hold up her end of a conversation now that her shyness had been broken through. It had come out that both of them were Methodists – not surprising considering the college, after all – but neither of them was terribly serious about it. They lived close enough to each other that they would be able to see each other over the summer. Face it, she thought. It’d be nice to have something of a boyfriend, and she could do a whole lot worse than Jeff Harrington.

Monday, February 18, 2013

“We never looked back,” Eunice sighed. I’ve not been sorry for a minute, Eric. Even if I’d known this last two years was coming, what Jeff and I have had was so worth it that I have no complaints.”

“You got lucky,” he replied. “You don’t have any idea how much I’ve envied what you have over the years. It would have been nice to have something like it, but I never got close. Donna, well, that time years later, I thought there was a chance, but it didn’t work out. That was about as close as I got and it wasn’t even a warm-up to the lives that you and Jeff built.”

“Yes, but I’ve pointed out before that you did a good many things that Jeff and I would never have dreamed of doing. It was fun to hear you talk about them afterwards, and even help you get going on one or another of your adventures, but that was fine with us. We’re different people, Eric, and we always have been. I suppose it’s a little surprising that we should have been friends, especially as good and loyal friends as we’ve been over the years.”

“I could never have done many of the things I did without the support I had from you and Jeff.”

“That may be true, but there are times we couldn’t have done things without your help, too. That’s been especially true these last two years.” She put down her knitting and finished her drink – there hadn’t been much left anyway. “Eric, it’s been wonderful to sit here and think about those days when the world lay before us, rather than mostly behind us. We all had our good times and I think we have no room to complain. I’d like to keep talking about them, but I think I’d better call it a night, even though it’s still early. As early as Jeff went to bed, he’s probably going to be stirring early in the morning and at least one of us should be ready for him.”

“Probably not a bad idea,” he agreed. “I think I’ll sit here and try to read for a bit, then go to bed myself.”

“I can’t blame you. I’ll check on Jeff and then get ready for bed. See you in the morning, Eric.”

“Sleep tight, and all that,” he said. “Going over the old days can wait for another time.”

“There’ll be plenty of time for them,” she replied as she got up. “Tomorrow is another day.”

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.