Chapter 7

Monday morning and all I could think about was finding an opportunity to test my theory. Most of the teachers at Porter were women but most of them were too old for me to be convincing. I wanted to compliment them but I wanted it to be credible. I’d been sincere when I told Veronica how pretty she was and I thought that had to be a big factor. No old women. No ugly women. Younger would be better. Miss Veronica was single so I thought that might be helpful. My idea to try it on every woman I knew had to be revised.

I saw Miss Lundquist in the hallway between classes and I thought she would be a reasonable candidate but I didn’t have her for any classes. She was really pretty. I was sure she’d heard it all before and I started to lose confidence. It was a stupid idea. Who was I kidding? I gave up on it. Until the start of lunch period.

Miss Lundquist was standing near her door as I was about to walk by. I slowed down as the traffic cleared out. I was approaching slowly when she turned to look at me and it suddenly became very easy.

“Hello, Mr. Pierce. How are you today?”

“I’m good, Miss Lundquist. How ... I’m sorry. I forgot what I was going to say.” My heart was racing but time seemed to slow down. I wanted to run but I did everything I could to calm down and think.

“You were going to ask how I am.”

“Yes. I was but...”

“But what?”

“But I got distracted. Sorry.” She looked at me and then looked around to see what might have distracted me. There was nothing. I hesitated and thought the moment was past. “I’m sorry. How are you, Miss Lundquist?”

“I’m fine. What distracted you?”

The opportunity came back and I couldn’t avoid it. I felt like I had on Sally’s front porch the first time. My hands were sweating and I was afraid my voice would break, which hadn’t happened in over a year. I paused to make sure of myself. “Um, you did, Miss Lundquist. I’m not sure why I never noticed before. I guess it’s just that your blouse really does the trick.” I felt like I had raced through that but knew I had said it normally. At least as normally as I could hope for. What an idiot.

She tilted her head and furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

“It’s blue. Mostly. And it kind of makes it easier to notice that your eyes are really pretty. They’re blue and the blouse helps. So, I guess you distracted me.” She smiled at that. “That probably sounds weird but you have really pretty eyes. Beautiful, really. God, I hope you don’t mind me saying that.”

“Not at all. It’s nice to hear, sweetheart.” She called me sweetheart which was pretty different from Mr. Pierce.

“I guess I never really thought about teachers being beautiful before but it’s kind of hard not to, now. Sorry. I should just shut up and go to lunch.”

“That’s really nice, Mr. Pierce. Thank you,” she said and I thought she might have become a little uncomfortable.

“Well, I noticed and I guess it seemed like it would be a good thing to tell you. I hope that’s okay. I’m sorry if it’s not.”

“It’s very much okay. Thank you, Jack. It’s always nice to receive a compliment, especially from a handsome young man. Thank you.”

I’d run out of things to say but I thought I’d been on the right track. “Have a nice day, Miss Lundquist,” I said and started to leave. As I did, I let out a soft “Wow,” that was supposed to sound like it was under my breath but I knew she could hear. It took work to keep a normal pace.

I heard her behind me just as softly say, “Oh, my,” and I smiled. That was a lot easier looking back at it than it was at the time. And it worked. I mean it really worked. And as a side benefit, Miss Lundquist really was pretty so I wasn’t making it up or anything. I felt pretty good about it. My heart was still racing. I thought that was about the gutsiest thing I’d done in a long time.

I grabbed lunch and took a seat by myself. It was my normal practice and I didn’t need the company. I took a bite out of my sandwich and started to read. I could get pretty engrossed once I started reading but for some reason I looked up and saw Miss Lundquist from across the room. She looked in my direction and for a split second, I thought she was going to cross the room to me. For a teacher to sit with a student was the cardinal sin. It just wasn’t done. Sometimes a teacher would ask you to sit with them on what was sort of their corner of the cafeteria but never the other way around. She went to sit with a couple of other teachers. It only took a second for it to happen and I wondered if I was imagining it. But I didn’t think so.

That afternoon, I stopped in the front office to use the phone and paid a compliment to Mrs. Abermarle, in administration. She was probably Mom’s age or maybe a little younger but I found something worth mentioning. At first, she absentmindedly thanked me. Then she looked up and sort of studied my face to see if I was serious. I didn’t repeat it. I just smiled at her as I dialed and she smiled and said “Thank you,” a second time. I was pretty sure I was on to something. That time, my heart wasn’t racing and I tried to figure out why not. Probably because Mrs. Abermarle was older and married and maybe because I’d already tried it once. I had a couple of more opportunities to try it that afternoon but I chickened out. That was probably a good thing.

That afternoon at practice us rookies learned how to use the starting platforms. After eight or ten tries, Birch showed me how to extend my glide and use a butterfly kick and it made a huge difference. When the freshmen lined up and Coach gave us a countdown and airhorn blast, I gave it my best shot. We were supposed to finish one length of the pool using freestyle. I had beat every other freshman by at least three yards. I smiled up at Birch and he gave me a thumbs up. Man, that felt good.

After practice, I asked him how things were going with Kim. He told me they were going okay but he didn’t think it would go past being friends. He told me they both liked each other just fine but not in a romantic way. The chemistry just wasn’t there. His words, not mine. I must have looked disappointed on his behalf.

“It’s fine, Jack. She’s beautiful and really nice and I appreciate you playing the matchmaker. We’ve talked about it and she does too. We’ll probably still go to games together and stuff but mostly because neither of us has anyone we’re interested in. She’s free, though, Jack, if you’re interested. I don’t mind. She is really good looking though, isn’t she?”

“She’s a stone fox. Sorry it didn’t work out. I’m probably the only guy on campus that’s sorry on your behalf though.”

“Yeah. That’s probably true. She asked me not to advertise that we aren’t dating. I’m her creep deterrent.”

“That’s rich. I’m sorry you two didn’t hit it off but glad you’re still friends.”

“Yeah. Next best thing, I guess. It’s mutual so it’s not like I’m upset or disappointed. And just being with her is a bit of an ego boost, even if she is just a sophomore. She’s available, Jack. And I know she likes you.”

“Yeah. Nice to know but I guess Sally and I have the chemistry you were talking about. I smile as soon as I see her and I think about her a lot of the time when we’re not together.”

“Yeah. That’s a good thing, right?”

I nodded. “My brother says I’ve got it bad. If Sally ever falls for some guy at her school or dumps me or something, I’ll probably be talking to Kim ... if she’s still on the market. She is so good looking. I guess that’s why she wants you around. Creep deterrent. That’s awesome.”

“It’s not like a hardship or anything. And then, when we go out, she’ll give me a goodnight kiss. Nothing romantic, just a thank you kiss, I guess.”

“Rough.”

“Yeah. Last time she did it I told her I was sure sorry we didn’t hit it off. She said I was sweet and kissed me again. We can laugh about it. She said I’d be a catch for someone, just not her. We don’t have chemistry but we understand each other. Jack ... she likes you; you know?”

“Man, she is good looking. I feel guilty for even thinking it, though. I gotta run. My ride’s waiting.”

“Yup. You’ve got it bad. Hottest girl in school but you’ve got someone else. I hope Sally knows.”

I thought about that. She knew. Sort of. She knew what I’d told her before. She didn’t know that Kim and Birch weren’t working out or that Kim was still interested in me. I thought it would be best if it stayed that way.

I got home and changed, then went out to the gym. Monday meant push. Sally was waiting and she gave me the best bear hug she could.

“I’m lifting weights with you on Monday but I’ve decided Tuesdays are more important.” She was quiet for a minute. “Aren’t you going to ask me why?” she asked with this crazy grin on her face.

“Why?”

“Because pull day will help me develop the muscles I need to squeeze you properly.” She latched onto me again and gave me her best bear hug. It was pretty funny but I didn’t dare laugh.

“Definite progress. I feel like I’ve been hugged by a bear. A little teddy bear.”

She punched me in the shoulder as Mom showed up.

“That’s what we need, a punching bag. I bet that’s a good workout,” Mom said.

“Or you can just hit me.”

We had a good workout and Sally made some impressive increases in weight. I complimented her on her progress and she was happy with that. Compliments of any kind, I thought. I needed to keep a ready reserve. What I really needed was to have a conversation with Karen. We had a lot to talk about. I decided to call her that night but I had something I needed to do first. We finished our workout and Sally and I got on our bikes.

“I might be a bit longer than usual,” I said and Mom looked at me for explanation. Sally was already at the end of the driveway, waiting. “She plays the piano and I’ve never heard her. I want to.”

“Ah. Good idea. I don’t know how skilled she is. Be nice,” she said.

I caught up to Sally and we pedaled the mile to her house.

“Can I come in for a couple of minutes?” I asked.

“Sure. You know you can. Any time.”

“Good. Because I’d like to hear you play piano.”

“Really?” I nodded with a smile. “Okay. You have to promise not to be disappointed.”

“I don’t think that’s possible. I don’t play anything so whatever you do is automatically better than me.”

We walked up the steps and inside. “Hi Mom. Hi Dad. I’m home. Jack’s with me. He wants to hear me play.”

“You go ahead, sweetheart. Dinner’s running late.”

“None of that Wagner stuff,” her dad growled from some unseen nook or cranny in the house. “Hello, Jack. Don’t let her play that German opera stuff for you.”

“Not a chance. I told her she could play whatever she wanted as long as it wasn’t German opera.” He grunted in response. I wouldn’t know German opera if it sat on my lap.

We walked into their den and Sally sat at the piano. “What do you want to hear?”

“German opera. Just kidding. I have no idea. Play something that makes you happy.”

She laughed at that and turned to the keyboard and started to play. It sounded familiar. I liked it but didn’t recognize it. It definitely made me want to move to the rhythm.

“That’s the Honky Tonk Blues,” she said when she finished. Anybody that plays honky tonk knows that one,” she said as she turned to me. “There’s a bunch of honky tonk songs but you get the idea. Here’s some boogie woogie,” she said and turned back and started playing.

I recognized it but didn’t know the name of it, either. I could tell there were similarities. I just didn’t understand what they were. She told me when she finished.

“That was The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. It was a big hit back in the 40s. Both honky tonk and boogie woogie have a repetitive bass line and that makes then easier to learn than other music. My left hand plays that part. They’re both fun to say and fun to play. I learned to play a bunch of them by ear. I didn’t learn how to read music until a couple of years ago.

“I liked them. They were fun. So ... is reading music a big deal? You learned how to play those without it.”

“That’s because they aren’t very complicated. If you want to play classical, you have to read music. I know a couple and I want to learn more but it’s a lot more difficult.”

“Play one of those that you feel comfortable with.”

She turned and played a very short song that sounded familiar. “That was the first song I learned to play from sheet music.”

“What is it?”

“Chopin’s Prelude No. 7 in A Major. It’s short and easy. Here’s another,” she said and turned back to the piano. She played a much longer piece.

“I like that better,” I said when she finished. It seemed more complicated at the end and it sounded prettier.”

“It’s Debussy’s Clair du Lune. I know a couple more. They seem really slow to me. I guess they are slow, especially compared to what I’ve been playing, you know, boogie woogie. There are a bunch of songs I want to learn to play but I have to really work at it. It wouldn’t hurt to have a tutor.”

“Like what? What would you want to play?” I asked.

“Well, I can play Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, but only the first movement.” She turned back to the piano and played it for me.

“I like that. How many movements are there or is it just the one?”

“There are three movements. The second isn’t so tough but the third is ridiculous.”

“Really? Because that sounded pretty hard to me.”

She laughed. “I can’t play it but do you want to hear what my goal is?” I nodded and she pulled a record off the shelf and put it on the turntable. “This is Leonard Bernstein playing the third movement.” I nodded and she lowered the stylus.

I watched the stylus drop and the record crackled once and it started. It was familiar to me and it seemed like the song filled the room. I had a hard time imagining someone playing it. It sounded like there had to be at least four hands involved. “Holy crap, Sally. How can anybody play that?” I asked when the song was over.

“Yeah. He’s the best.”

“How long would it take you to learn that?”

“I don’t know. Twenty years?”

“No, really. How long?”

“I don’t even know. I don’t know if I could. Not everybody who starts to learn the piano can learn to play something like that.”

“Well, I think you’re amazing. I want to hear more but I have to get home.”

We walked to the door and I guess it was pretty obvious to her how impressed I was. I gave her a kiss and jumped on my bike. I hadn’t pedaled far when I realized I had done it again. I had complimented Sally, not on her looks but her ability. Pretty cool.

At dinner, I told Mom about Sally’s playing and she was happy that I was so impressed. She knew a little about it but neither of us played an instrument. Neither of us could read music and or had much of an understanding of classical music.

“Buddy, I’m afraid I don’t even know the difference between an etude, a concerto and a sonata.”

“An etude is a piece designed to challenge your ability with a complex and sometimes fast paced score, while a concerto is written for a solo performance with orchestral accompaniment,” I said in the most nonchalant way I could.

“Oh, really?”

“Why, yes,” I said with a ridiculous British accent. “A little something I picked up today.”

“Well, whoop de do. And a sonata?”

“Why a sonata is something else entirely.” She looked with one of those ‘go on’ looks moms have. “Why a sonata is a music thingy. I have no clue. I’ll ask. She’s really good. Like, really, really good.”

“I’m glad you were impressed. I guess you might cut her some slack on weight lifting?”

“Yeah. I think she’s given up a lot of practice time. I bet she’d be fine with lifting three times a week instead of six and using the other time for piano.”

“That sounds smart and very considerate.”

We finished eating and Mom took care of the dishes. I wanted to get some insight on the day’s events. I called Franklin.

“Hey, Jack. What’s up?”

“Lots. Is Karen there?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What’s this? You call me to talk to Karen?”

“Yeah. I’ve got some questions and she said she would talk with me. But, how’s it going? I’m fine, thanks. Had a great time the other day. Is Karen there?”

“Good, glad, here she is. Whew.”

“Hey, Jack. Franklin is rolling his eyes at me so it must be important. Shall I shoo him?”

“Yes, please.”

“Shoo. Shoo. Go on, scat,” she said and I couldn’t help laughing. “Okay. He’s been banished to the living room. What’s up?”

I told her. I told her about Miss Veronica and my experiments at school and then how well my compliment played with Sally and asked for her thoughts.

“My thoughts are that you’re dangerous. I’m certainly not an expert but I think your observations are sound. I also think there’s a surprising number of people that are starved for the kind of attention you gave today. I think Veronica is recently divorced. Not sure why I think that. Something your mom said, perhaps. Maybe she isn’t dating again yet and I have no idea how long she was married.”

“Yeah, she’s recently divorced. Just found that out.”

“Not surprised. You probably gave her a huge confidence boost. Sally thinks the world of you and right now, no one’s opinion counts more so your compliments on her playing, something she’s obviously spent a lot of time on, mean a lot to her. As to the staff at Porter, who knows? I’d say, keep it up but make certain your compliments are genuine. Flattery for the sake of flattery doesn’t go over well. People can smell insincerity. And if you’re complimenting someone to manipulate them, that won’t end well.”

“But it’s powerful?”

“Oh, honey, you have no idea. I want to be complimented and pampered and tended to and I don’t think I’m different, at least in that regard, to any other woman. I’ll bet it works pretty well on men too.”

“Right. Hi Birch. Looking mighty handsome today.”

“Yeah, that’s probably not good but you know what I mean. Here’s another thing. If someone compliments me, I don’t mind if they do it again the next day and the next and the next. Some people need convincing or reminding.”

“That sounds right. It was weird with Miss Veronica, though.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well...” I stopped to think how to say it. “It’s not like she was desperate or anything...”

“But she really needed to hear it?”

“Yes. And she was really appreciative.”

“What makes you think so?”

“She kissed me.”

“She kissed you?”

“Yes. And I actually thought for a moment...” I realized I didn’t want to say any more.

“You thought she’d hop in the sack with you.”

“Well ... yeah. The thought crossed my mind.”

“It might have crossed her’s too. Danger, danger.”

“No kidding.”

“You might be right, though, Jack. You’re not a kid anymore. You’re a young man and you look much older than your age. You could probably pass for a college student, especially if someone wanted to think you’re older. Add to that you’re a lot smarter than most kids your age. People that don’t know better could easily think you’re eighteen or so. Repeat after me, danger, danger. Do you have to shave?” she asked.

“No more than twice a day,” I answered. She laughed and I told her, “No. Any day now, though.”

“It’s probably best that you don’t. If you grew a mustache, I know you could pass for older. Perhaps much older. You could probably buy beer. Best that you don’t shave yet.”

“Okay, let me ask you a different question. What’s okay to compliment? Are there things that are off limits?”

“Like what?”

“Well ... eyes seem safe enough. Clothes seem pretty safe. But what about other things?”

“You mean like, I couldn’t help but notice your amazing tatas?”

“Yeah. I mean I can’t imagine saying, ‘Miss Lundquist, can I tell you that you have the most amazing ass in the world. I’d just love to bite it.”

“No. I’d leave off the part about biting it.”

“C’mon. Really. What’s the limit? Can I tell someone they have nice lips or legs or just be safe and stick with things like eyes and smile?”

“Eyes and smile seem safe enough. Hair, too, especially if a woman has just changed it. I guess it depends on how well you know them.”

“Do I know you well enough?”

“To tell me I have a great ass?”

“I wasn’t going to say that.” I realized I’d dug a hole. “You do, though. Have a great ass but I’d never actually say that because I don’t know you well enough.”

“Danger, danger.” We both laughed. “Thank you. It’s a good thing I shooed Franklin out of the room.”

“Yeah. Probably a good thing. You do have a great body, though. Just in case you didn’t know. But you know. How could you not know?”

“It’s still nice to hear. You are dangerous, though. You’re going to be a lot of trouble by the time you get to college. I’d say you’re on the right track. Your theory sounds good to me and your sense of caution in exploring this is good, too. I don’t think a lot of young men are exploring this so it’s a huge advantage for you ... But ... regarding Miss Veronica ... Danger, danger.”

“Yes, ma’am. I hear that part loud and clear. To be honest, though, it was pretty exciting to have her, you know, kiss me. It surprised me.”

“I’ll bet. Anything else?”

“No. I’m sure I have a lot more questions. I just don’t know what to ask. I really appreciate you being willing to talk to me, you know, open and honest.”

“Sure. Franklin’s probably going to be out of town this weekend so don’t be surprised by that. Save your best compliments for the people that matter most.”

“Like Sally.”

“Like Sally, and your mom. You can practice on me whenever you like.”

“Thanks. Should I compliment you on your amazing tatas next time you’re over.”

“Franklin would fall over. Probably best if you don’t. I’m trying to imagine Franklin’s response if you said, ‘Karen, you’ve got a great ass.’ Best not. Talk to you later, Jack.”

“Thanks. Bye,” I said and hung up. How would Franklin react to that? I called Sally.

“Hello, Hinkleman residence.”

“Hey, Miss Hinkleman.”

“Hey, yourself.”

“I want to learn,” I said.

“Learn what?”

“I want to learn about the piano. Not how to play. How to appreciate. I want to learn about the things that make one piece of music better than another. Or more interesting or difficult or whatever. Can you teach me?”

“I can teach you. You really want to learn? You’re not just saying that?”

“No. What you did today was amazing. You are so good but if I don’t learn more about it, I don’t think I’d be able to appreciate how good you are.”

“Wow. That’s kind of nice.”

“Yeah. Remember the first time you came down to lift weights?”

“And I thought I could bench press a weight I couldn’t even move?”

“Yeah. But now you’ve learned a lot and things make more sense. I want to learn the things that will help it all make more sense. And, I don’t want you to lift six days a week. I mean, you can if you want to. But I don’t want you to lift weights and lose the time you would normally spend practicing piano. I’m getting ready for swimming and baseball so it makes sense for me to lift every day. But you just want to get in shape and you don’t need to lift so much to do that.”

“You’ve been thinking.”

“Yeah. A lot. Anyway, I just wanted you to know.”

We talked for another hour about lifting and music and piano and the whole nine yards. It was fun. I couldn’t believe how much fun it was. I was looking forward to hearing her play again. I tried to remember the song she was learning but couldn’t do it. Simply too unfamiliar to me. I’d have to fix that.

Tuesday was a day off. I didn’t try to test my theory with women. No tests or quizzes. Swim practice was hard but in a good way. I put in a lot of distance, used the kickboard a lot and experimented with hand paddles designed to work my shoulders and arms. I also worked on my breaststroke and decided to leave it to someone else. No breaststroke. No Backstroke. No thanks. I think Coach was happy with me sticking to my strengths, butterfly and freestyle. He really encouraged me with my freestyle. I was a butterfly guy but I didn’t mind working on my second-best stroke.

Mom and I lifted without Sally being there. Sally’d agreed to do Monday, Wednesday and Friday so she’d get to do an entire workout once a week while Mom and I would work through it twice. I rode down to her house after our workout and she played Clair de Lune again and explained it to me. I liked it even more. I found out that Clair de lune means moonlight and it seemed appropriate with its soft sort of rolling melody. She played a couple of more pieces and I liked them too. I told her she needed to teach me. She said she’d think about how to do that. We smooched for a while. She felt so very good in my arms. Then, I went home, had dinner, read and hit the sack. Tuesday was pretty much a day off.

We settled into a routine and it worked pretty well. On three days a week Sally worked out with Mom and me. She focused on the big five lifts with some work on the peripherals but not much. She mainly stuck to deadlift, bench press, military press, squat and bent rows. Kenny Blenkhorn’s older brother said that if you just did those five exercises it would be enough to build strength. The other exercises were peripheral and they helped but they weren’t compound exercises. That was the key. On the other three days, Mom and I really hammered the workout, adding the peripherals Sally didn’t do. Then I rode my bike down to Sally’s to listen to her play and learn about music, the piano, and the composers she liked best. One day she would tell me a little about Chopin and then play some of his music. She did that with several composers. They were all names I heard but until then, I’d known nothing about them. It was fascinating and that surprised me.

On Thursday afternoon, Mom drove me down to Sally’s and we picked her up and then went to Licorice Pizza to shop for a couple of records. I picked up a record that had three of Beethoven’s greatest hits, the Moonlight, Appasionata, and Pathétique sonatas. Sally laughed when I called them his greatest hits but Mom seemed to think it was appropriate. After some discussion, Sally let me buy an album for her too.

We went back to our house for dinner. While mom was putting it on the table, I put Sally’s album on the turntable and we listened to Beethoven’s Waldstein sonata. It was interesting but when I played my album later and compared, I didn’t like Waldstein as well. I bragged on Sally and how well she could play. Mom seemed impressed but Sally told me I was biased and she was really just a beginner.

Saturday morning, Franklin picked me up early and took me to the driving range. His trip out of town was postponed and I was the beneficiary. I wasn’t really interested in golf but he thought it was important for me to understand some basics and to hit a few balls. Since he said he wasn’t that proficient, he’d hired the local golf pro to teach both of us. After an hour of hitting and missing balls, I decided that it was probably good for businessmen to play the game and told him so on the drive home.

“Why’s that?” Franklin asked.

“I figure a lot of guys like to brag when they get together. You know, about how much they make or how much they can drink or the women they’re with. But golf probably changes that. You know. Introduce a little humility into their lives. It probably shuts some guys up completely,” I answered. “I wouldn’t talk about it, that’s for sure. I suck.”

We must have driven in silence for ten minutes before we came to a light.

He looked over at me and said, “I think you might be onto something, Jack. A simple game but very humbling. Maybe that’s the point of it.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think I want to be humbled that badly. The ball is too small, the club is skinny with a tiny little clubhead thing on the end. I hope the Scottish people gave us something better than golf. But, thanks for introducing me to it.”

“You’re welcome,” he said as we turned into the driveway. “Glenfiddich. I thought you might need something to cheer you up after that so today is a two-parter.”

“Yeah. After that, it had better be good. What’s a Glenfiddich?”

“Scotch. Part two is good. Mom clued me in.” We got out of the car and I noticed that both Mom and Sally were waiting for us. “Help me get this out of the trunk,” he said.

He popped the trunk and I looked at this big tan canvas thing for a moment or two before I realized what it was. “This is good,” I said, lifting the heavy bag out of the trunk.

I muscled it into the garage and set it down. Franklin parked a step ladder under the middle of one of the big beams and fastened a chain over the top. He hooked another chain on it and adjusted the height. He motioned for me and I lifted the bag up and he attached it to the chain.

“We might need to improve on that but it will be good for today. There are gloves in the trunk.”

I ran to get them and noticed Mom and Sally grinning at me. This was fun. Franklin taught me how to stand and pivot my hips to get power in my punches. He let me play for a little while and then we got serious.