Episode 8: The Interrogation…
Mrs. Day sat across from me in a small chair with arms. She was erect and I thought maybe a little strained as if this whole affair was a little much. She smoothed the front of her dark wool skirt and worked a smile onto her face.
“Sally said she met you at our restaurant. I called Ray and he said he saw you and talked to Sally about you. He indicated you had looked a little under the weather, can you explain that for me?”
“Yes ma’am, I can. I was suffering from a hangover from over-drinking the night before with a group of friends. It was my first time ever to get drunk and it will most assuredly be the last one.”
“I see. Well, we Day’s don’t drink. Is this drinking a habit with you?”
“Not like last night, no ma’am. I used to have a beer or two with the guys I worked with back home, but nothing like this. No one in my family drinks either. I guess I was the first one. Turned out it wasn’t such a good idea for me either.”
“Sally said you are from Alabama.”
“Yes, ma’am. Southeast Alabama near the Georgia and Florida state lines.”
“You go to high school there?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Did you graduate?”
“Yes, ma’am. I was an A and B student not that it matters I guess. I played sports. Almost all of the male ones. I was never in trouble in school, nor after I graduated.”
“And you worked as a roofer?”
“I did. It was hard work but paid good. Just not what I wanted to do.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I’m not sure. I like sports and I think I might like to coach someday. Over the years my coaches had a great influence on me, and I think that was important for a young boy without a father.”
“What happened to your father, if I may ask?”
“He left us when I was ten. Later he remarried. He was never in my life after that.”
“I see. Must have been hard.”
“Yes, ma’am, but school and sports, especially sports, kept me occupied and out of trouble.”
“I don’t want you young people to miss your movie, so I’ll save any more questions. Since you are new to Sally and her parents, I request that you bring her home by eleven o’clock. Can you do that?”
“Mother, it’s Saturday night. Why this early time all of a sudden?” Sally asked, looking a little startled, I thought.
“We don’t know Jack and he’s not a local boy so we don’t know his family. Eleven on this first date, Sally. You and I will talk about it afterwards. We go to church on Sunday, Jack. What about you?”
I had to think about that question. It seemed important to Sally’s mom, but Sally hadn’t mentioned church to me. I wondered if it was a make-or-break question as far as my seeing Sally again. It seemed like a wrong thing to lie about church, but I thought I might get away with a partial truth if I could phrase it just right. I did pause for a moment, searching for the right words.
“Not since I came to Boise, Mrs. Day.”
“Have you ever been to church, Jack?”
“Oh, yes ma’am. I went to church with my mother. Every Sunday morning and at night too.”
“So, you haven’t gone since you left home, is that right?”
I nodded. My face felt a little warm. I knew she didn’t like the answer and I also knew my mother wouldn’t have liked it either. I wanted to say I’d been thinking about it, but that would have been a lie because once I started drinking beer with my roofing crew, I was ashamed to go to church, and after coming to Boise I didn’t feel any urge to go.
“We’re going to miss the movie, Mother, if we don’t go. I’m sure Jack would love to take me to church tomorrow. Wouldn’t you, Jack?”
That was a no-brainer and hopefully a way out of this trial by fire. “Oh, sure thing. I would love to go to church tomorrow. Sally can tell me all about it on the way to the theater.”
Somehow we escaped the living room and made it to the curb where the old Chevy was parked. I opened the door for Sally and rushed around to the driver’s side. I was surprised when I got in that Sally had slid over to the middle of the seat. She wasn’t touching me but she was awfully close.
“Sorry about the grilling,” she said, “Mother’s a little protective, especially after my trouble with Chuck. Like I said, I haven’t had many dates, so she’s a little skittish. And, you’re not local.”
We chatted on the way to the movie. I asked if she liked Glenn Ford, but evidently she wasn’t a western fan. My boarding house friends had told me this movie was kind of tense and didn’t involve much in the way of cowboy stuff. Supposedly, most of the story took place in a hotel room. Anyway, we would be sitting side by side in the dark and sharing the same bag of popcorn so there were lots of possibilities.
Well, the movie was tense, and Ford was great and the popcorn was hot and buttery. Eventually, Sally felt the tension of the story and grabbed my arm and didn’t let go, except during the cartoon and coming attractions. The entire show lasted about two hours so we had lots of time left together before the eleventh-hour curfew.
Of course we went back to the Westside Drive-in. We had to go somewhere and I didn’t know of any other place that would be appropriate. We weren’t hungry but we were ready for the social atmosphere and another cherry-coke. Obviously, Madeline wasn’t still working, but she was at the drive-in with a group of friends. Five or ten minutes after we arrived, Chuck and a group of boys joined them. I breathed a sigh of relief thinking that the two groups would entertain each other and we would be left alone. I wanted as much solo time with Sally as possible. There was so much to know and by this time I knew she was the right girl for me.
As the Pinney Theater and the drive-in movies let out, the crowd of young people grew until the place was crowded inside and out. The jukebox was blaring a Pat Boone song but the noise level was so high it was hard to hear the words. Not that it mattered because I was much more interested in Sally and what she was saying than Pat Boone, although I did like his music.
Sally had taken her coat off once we reached the booth, revealing a soft, baby blue cashmere sweater. Look out Elizabeth Taylor. I think I stared. No, that’s not true. I absolutely stared. The soft blue cashmere contrasted with her dark eyes and I found myself falling into their blackness again.
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