Chapter 27: Women!?

Ned spent Saturday chauffeuring our guests to and from the club and on Sunday to the airport. I spent the rest of the weekend trying to dodge them, spending time with them only when my presence was required.

I didn't get a chance to talk to Alice again although it was not for lack of trying. When she was not at home on Saturday night I began to wonder what could be keeping her at the club. A vision of her dining with a handsome man; a tennis student perhaps appeared so vividly in my mind that I had to do pushups to make it go away, only stopping when I lost count.

On Sunday afternoon when it was time for me to return to school Ned was not around. He was taking the last of our guests to the airport. We were all busy cleaning up after the luncheon. I was helping Molly carry things into the kitchen where Betsy was loading the dishwasher and storing leftovers. Mr. Oldham and Suzanne exchanged glances. I knew they were both tired. They were not used to the late nights that a week of entertaining requires. If there was another way for me to get back to school, short of imposing upon the Augustines I would have suggested it. I wished I had gotten the name of the Speedwell girl I had met the week before. But I couldn't be late for Sunday evening formation. Somehow, I had to make it.

Suzanne volunteered to take me. Mr. Oldham vetoed the idea, saying he would take me. An argument ensued, making me wish I could drive myself.

We didn't talk for the first twenty miles, both lost in our own thoughts. Mr. Oldham broke the silence. "How's it going Sammy? Has that asshole given you any more trouble?"

"No sir. Everything is going well," I said, knowing he was referring to Colonel Travis.

"Did you make it through the quarter okay?"

"Yes sir, I did okay," I answered, not sure how much information he wanted or needed to know.

"Did the redhead really bust your water balloons?" He glanced over at me with a serious look on his face that made me want to hide in a corner. But he couldn't hold the look for long. We cracked up at the same time, both laughing for the next mile or two. Nothing more was said about the redhead telling everyone that she had found my condoms. But knowing that he had heard the story and was laughing about it gave me a new level of respect for him. I could trust him with my deepest secrets.

I told him everything, my promotion, Smitty's promotion, my new standing in the class and my new special-teams assignment. He stopped short of telling that he was proud of my achievements. When he promised that he and Suzanne would come to my game on Friday I took that as a sign of his approval.

We shook hands when he dropped me off. I saw him heading for the administrative offices, silently wishing him luck but knowing the Colonel would not meet with him. Shit! I thought. I forgot to find out if he had been contacted regarding Alice's employment at the club.

Jarvis tried to give me some shit about me subbing for the quarterback on punts. He had been named starting quarterback for our first game and his point was that he was bigger than me and more experienced, therefore he would be better suited to shorten the other team's return. But there was no assurance that he would play the whole game. As far as I was concerned the position was still up for grabs. "Coach doesn't want you to get hurt," I said to sooth his feelings. It worked.

Word spread around the school that the Colonel was the only dissenter to Jordan's promotion to Major while the board had unanimously agreed to squash Dale's promotion to Captain. My roommates agreed that Dale was resentful, blaming me for his failure to make Captain. They vowed to protect me from any retribution. Jarvis and I had our differences but when it came to sticking together I could not have asked for more solidarity than what was shown by him.

I tried to apply myself in class, on the football field and while studying with Smitty. Nights were the worst. I could not shake the thought that I was losing Alice. Not being able to talk to her on Saturday night planted the seed. My own imagination fertilized it and my insecurity let it grow. I nearly got charged with a demerit for hitting a ball carrier too hard in practice.

We had a good crowd show up for the game. Parents came to see their sons play their first game and the Speedwell girls came, all claiming to have a boyfriend on the field. I didn't catch a glimpse of Mr. Oldham until we were heading into the locker room at halftime. Sitting with him were Suzanne, Ned and Alice. I did a double-take to make sure it was her. Didn't she have to work today? Had she been fired already?

I had not played well during the first half and I overcompensated for it the second half. At the end of the game I was less than satisfied with my own performance although we had won. The score was Bee Seas 22 Dees 13. We played even for the first three quarters, both teams getting their share of penalties and losing the ball through turnovers. The difference came in the final quarter when our field goal kicker found the uprights and Sonny found a seam, which allowed him to go all the way for a touchdown.

We showered quickly and made it to the dance fifteen minutes into the hour long dance. The last forty-five minutes were still endless. I had to stand there, holding my hat and watching my classmates make fools of them selves while Alice was someplace in the outer lobby making small talk with people she didn't know. What excuse would she give for coming to the game? What possible interest could she have in a boys' school intramural game? I went over her possible answers in my mind. "I just came along with my neighbors. Their nephew is a student here. Okay, he's a friend of mine. Okay, he's a very good friend. Yes, damn it! I'm fucking him! Are you satisfied?"

"Cindy Baldwin wants you to dance with her," Charlie told me when he came back after dancing with Margaret.

"Who?" I was irritated for the interruption. I had been enjoying Alice's imaginary conversation.

"She's from you neighborhood. She told Margaret that she knows you."

I looked across the floor and recognized the girl I had met while taking a walk the week before. She was looking over at us, casting an inviting smile.

"So you're Sammy Oldham. I've been hearing all about you," Cindy said as soon as we took our places on the dance floor.

"In that case I'm surprised you're dancing with me," I said, getting a feeling that she was flirting with me, not something that I wanted to happen right then.

"Margaret says you're sweet and I would always take her word over Paula's," she said, like it was a speech she had been practicing. She sort of leaned in to me, making me think that she was flirting even stronger.

"I like Margaret. She's a sweet girl," I said, feeling safe with the truth.

"Is what she said about your scar true?"

What right did she have to ask me such a personal question? We had just met. She was cute with light brown hair and a dimple in her chin. She struck me as a girl that used her good looks to her advantage. I suspected that she was spoiled but that applied to ninety-five percent of the Speedwell girls. They were all daddies' little girls with their noses in the air. I decided to play along.

"Did Margaret tell you that a guy cut me because his girlfriend called out my name when he was fucking her?"

"Something like that," she said, tossing her ponytail to the left and looking at me quizzically. Cindy Baldwin didn't shock easily.

"Did she tell you that I ran the guy out of town and his girlfriend still calls my name every time she has sex?"

"Something like that." There was a little catch in her voice this time, like she was cracking. I decided to try once more.

"Did Margaret tell you that she wanted to have sex with me but I turned her down?"

"Yes, she did and I thought it was very admirable of you," Cindy Baldwin said in an even voice. "She wants to have sex with your friend but she can't make him understand. That's why we need you. Can you help us?"

Now I was shocked. "You want me to get Charlie to have sex with Margaret?"

"Precisely. Will you?"

The dance was coming to an end. I escorted Cindy back to the Speedwell side of the room, too stunned to answer her question. "What did he say?" I heard Margaret ask Cindy as I turned to leave them. I didn't stick around to hear Cindy's answer. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Suzanne, Mr. Oldham, Ned and Alice watching me. I wondered if they could see that I was visibly shaken. I had never met a girl that I couldn't shock before. I had never met a girl like Cindy Baldwin before.

Mr. Oldham insisted on driving; it was his car. Ned rode up front with him and I rode in the cramped back seat with Suzanne and Alice. There were so many things I wanted to know but we didn't get a chance to talk. All I could do was feel her sitting next to me, feel her leg next to mine and smell her hair. Every so often she would move her leg against mine, making me crazy with desire. She would turn her head and look into my eyes, hungrily before turning her attention back to the conversation.

We stopped to have dinner on the way home. The restaurant was crowded with students and their parents who had attended the game. On the way to our table Mr. Oldham stopped to shake hands with a man. I looked down and I saw Cindy Baldwin smiling up at me. I smiled back; sure that Alice was watching me and remembered our dancing together.

The Baldwin family became a topic of conversation when we took our seats. Mr. Oldham mentioned that Carl Baldwin was in real estate and everyone had something to add. Suzanne said she remembered the name and Ned told exactly where the Baldwin family lived, the style of house and which landscaper they used. He would have told us who tended their pool if it had not been for Alice speaking up. "The daughter is very pretty. Do you know her Sammy?"

I stammered and sputtered for a few seconds, considering the various ways I could answer her question. "One of my roommates is dating her friend. Her friend wanted Cindy to find out how serious Charlie is about her," I said, making perfect sense to myself but not to Alice.

"Is that why she was poking her little muffin at your ram?" Alice asked indignantly before catching herself and laughing as if she were joking.

Hearing Alice poke fun at me was all Suzanne needed to add to the repartee. "I saw her poking her little muffin too. How well do you know Cindy? Or are you just helping her play cupid?"

"That's it. I don't know her at all. Her friend wanted to find out if my roommate is serious about her. I told her that he's crazy about her. That's all it was." I hoped this explanation would put an end to the discussion of Cindy Baldwin. And it would have if it were not for Suzanne's constant aim to embarrass me in public.

"Does she always poke her little muffin at your... what did you call it Alice... at your ram?"

I looked around the table. They were all enjoying how Suzanne was making me uncomfortable, all except Alice. She wasn't finding it funny. She wasn't sympathizing with me either. She looked detached, like she didn't care one way or the other.