Chapter 43

We had dinner reservations at the country club at seven o’clock so I ate a snack of peanut butter and jelly at five so I wouldn’t starve to death. That was much more likely than catching my death.

After that, I got cleaned up and put on my best suit and tie. Dad and I were waiting for Mum to finish up. She came in asking Dad to help her with her necklace. I looked up at her and had to stop and think; that is my Mum!

In the little black dress, she looked gorgeous. I did some quick math and realized she is thirty-nine years old and looks great.

She had a black case in her hand. It was a long flat jewelry box. She handed it to Dad who opened it to reveal a pearl necklace. It was what they called a triple strand.

I asked if I could look at them. Dad handed me the strand. The pearls were white with an almost mirror-like luster to them. Mum told me they are a matched set at ten mm. These are South Sea saltwater pearls.

I looked at them closely and realized that some of them had small bumps on them. I asked about that and was assured that this was the sign of a real pearl.

“These look very expensive. Where did you get them?”

She showed me the back of the box. It had Boodles, Bond Street, London England.

“It was a gift from a friend.”

The way she said it told me there would be no more. From the look on Dad’s face, he wasn’t bothered at all about it. So I guess it wasn’t some other guy. Now, what friend might Mum have had that could afford to give away high-end jewelry?

We put on our hats and coats and left for dinner. Mrs. Hernandez wasn’t back from Miami, so a high school girl was hired to babysit. I was really surprised when Eleanor Price showed up at the door.

I told her I thought she would have a date for tonight. She told me that she hadn’t a boyfriend since Steve’s death and could use the money. She would make at least five dollars tonight.

At the club, it was like an old home week. Mr. Hastings the manager met us at the door with a warm greeting. He had us step into his office for a minute and gave us a group of membership cards.

Each member of the family now could use the golf course, swimming pool or tennis courts at our leisure. We were led to our table by Kelly the hostess that I had met on my earlier visits.

We had barely sat down when Doctor Costin came over with his wife and welcomed us to the club for our first meal as members. Until our meal was actually served there was a small parade of people stopping by to say hello.

I was a little surprised by how many of the business people in the community knew my parents. We weren’t really singled out for all these visits. I think every group stopped at every table. There must be a party going on.

After dessert, we had coffee while Dad smoked one of his ever fewer cigarettes. There were enough people smoking that you could see a haze forming near the ceiling. A young lady came to the table.

She had a tray suspended from her neck with a strap. She had on black short shorts with a red blouse and was wearing fishnet stockings with high heels. She was giving away sample packs of Camels.

I guess Dad and I looked at her too long because Mum said, “Like what you see boys?”

I came back with, “She is wearing red and black our school colors.”

Dad came up with, “Yeah I admire school spirit.”

“You two are so full of it! But she is elegant looking.”

“No Peg, you are elegant, she might be cute or even pretty but you are the elegant one.”

Nice save Dad!

At the next table, they were smoking cigars and they really stank up the place. I think they should restrict them outdoors. Mum commented that she would have to send all of our clothes to the dry cleaner after this to remove the smoke. It would also decay the threads if left too long.

If it would cause threads to decay no wonder it wasn’t good for your lungs. I noticed that Doctor Costin was really careful about smoking, he only used a pipe.

We moved to the ballroom. It was really a large meeting room that could be used for dancing. They rented it out for various functions. I noticed a table full of teenagers so I pointed it out to my parents and they said, “Go.”

Wonder of wonders, Cheryl was there. She seemed a little cool at first. I picked up on the fact that I made the last person at the table, and until I arrived Cheryl was the only unescorted girl at the table. Maybe I should have called her?