“Blue Suede Shoes”
Listen to this chapter, “The Big Four”
It was a cold, dark night in late November. Few stars shone in the moonless sky and an eerie wind played a haunting tune in the bare treetops. Steve Emory lay fast asleep in his room. He had strewn his clothes around the room and had not pushed the top drawer of his dresser all the way in. He had left one window halfway up, and the breeze played tag with the curtain.
When the clock struck twelve, this same breeze carried the sound of the midnight chimes from the big clock in the courtyard to Steve’s ears. He turned over restlessly, gave one kick, and opened his eyes. Then he knew he had only been dreaming. He had been running from two monsters, Culture and Society. But as he ran, they had called after him, “Rebel! Rebel!” And he became only more entangled in their traps.
“Boy, what an imagination my subconscious mind must have,” he thought as he turned over. But the more he tried to sleep, the more he thought about his crazy nightmare. Finally, from sheer exhaustion, he dropped off to sleep.
When morning came, Steve had quite forgotten the experience of the night before. He dressed and ate and started for school, as usual, his old gay self. Little did he know today would be the beginning of a turning point in his life. He arrived at school at the usual time, 8:00, and saw the same familiar faces. He had taken his books to his locker and was on his way to history class when he felt a soft hand touch his shoulder. He turned to see Cynthia’s smiling face.
“Good morning, Steve,” she greeted. “Did you just get here?”
Steve grinned and nodded and automatically took hold of her soft, tiny hand.
“Well,” she said, “I guess you haven’t seen the announcements on the bulletin board.”
He shook his head and walked over to the bulletin board where someone had placed a large colored poster. After reading it silently, he turned back to Cynthia. “So,” he said, “the first formal banquet of the year, huh?”
Cynthia nodded, her eyes shining. “And Ella—she’s on the social committee, you know—says it’s really going to be spectacular this year.”
Steve knew right well what Cynthia, his girl for the past two years, was expecting now—an invitation. But just then the bell rang, and Steve said, “See you—got to run now”—and he ran.
Meanwhile, in the chemistry classroom, Julie had been going over her lesson before the bell rang. Suddenly Sandra burst into the room, her face beaming. “Look, Julie, look, will you? It’s happened, finally! I told you Ken and Ella would never last. Just read this, Julie, just read this!” She held out a small, wrinkled piece of paper. Julie took the note and read it. A knowing smile crossed her face.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you think it’s pretty neat?” asked Sandra.
“Yeah, sure,” said Julie, trying her best to act normal. “Ah, read it out loud to me.”
“‘Dearest Sandra,’” she began, “‘Ella and I are split up for good. But I’ve been thinking about you for a long time. I’d like to take you to the banquet, doll. Let me know as soon as you can. With all my love, Ken.’ Oh, Julie, isn’t it wonderful?”
“Yeah, sure,” said Julie, “wonderful.”
When Julie and Sandra went to the cafeteria for lunch that noon, Ken, Steve, Cynthia, and Ella were at their usual place. They seemed as happy and gay as ever. The “Big Four,” as some kids called them, didn’t look as though anything had happened or was going to happen that would ever break them up.
Sandra turned confusedly to Julie. “I don’t get it. Look at ’em.”
“I know, but they won’t be like that for long,” Julie said.
“How do you know?”
“Instinct,” replied Julie.
Sandra said no more but was growing suspicious. In a matter of a few hours, she confirmed her suspicions. She had asked Julie to stop at the Snack Shop for a malt on the way home, but Julie had a music lesson. So Sandra went there with Carolyn instead. They sat down in the booth next to the one where the “Big Four” sat.
“All right, Ella,” Ken was saying. “You’d better start talking.”
“No, no,” Ella giggled. “Leave me alone.”
“You wrote that note, didn’t you, didn’t you?”
“Okay, okay,” she screeched, “let me go and I’ll tell you.”
Ken relaxed his grip on her shoulders. “Okay, start talking.”
“We only did it because—”
“We?” Ken interrupted. “Who’s ‘we’?”
“Julie and I,” Ella continued. “We just wanted to get your reactions, and Sandra’s.”
“You little—” Ken shook his fist in mock anger at her. “It would serve you right if I went to the banquet with Sandra.”
Ella only laughed, but Ken was getting serious. Anyway, Sandra had heard all she wanted to, so she got up and left.
“I wouldn’t laugh if I were you,” warned Steve. “Ken might just show you.”
“I don’t care,” said Ella, tossing her head carelessly.
“You don’t think I would, do you?” Ken said.
Until this time, Cynthia had been looking on with an amused smile. She broke in with, “Oh, say, Ella, Jim wanted your phone number last night—”
“Jim who?” broke in Ken, who spoke with a slightly worried tone.
“Her brother, who do you think?” replied Ella. Then turning to Cynthia, she said, “Go on.”
“Well,” continued Cynthia, “it seems he asked Sandra to go to the banquet with him and she refused, so he thought about you and—”
“And so he wanted my phone number, huh?” finished Ella. “Did you give it to him?”
“I thought I’d better check with you first,” replied Cynthia.
Ella nodded her approval. At that moment, a girl rushed up to the table. Cynthia recognized her as the associate editor of the school paper. She had been over to Cynthia’s house several times to work with her brother Jim, who was editor-in-chief of the paper. “Excuse me,” the girl said, “but have any of you seen Sandra Lee? I was across the street and I saw her come in here. I’ve got some really exciting news to tell her.”
The kids shook their heads. “We haven’t seen her, JoAnn,” said Cynthia. “I could give you her telephone number and maybe you could call her if the news is very important.”
“Thanks,” JoAnn said, “but I don’t have a phone.” She sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to tell her that Jim asked me to the banquet. Well, sorry to disturb you.” And she started away.
“Wait a minute,” Ken called to her. “Don’t mind me being snoopy, but Jim who?”
“Why, Jim Donaldson,” answered JoAnn, slightly startled. “You know, Cynthia’s brother.”
At that point, Ella coughed, Cynthia turned red and covered her face with her hands, Ken turned a deep purple, Steve burst out laughing, and JoAnn shrugged her shoulders and walked away. After a moment of very uncomfortable silence, Ken said to Cynthia, “Maybe that girl JoAnn doesn’t have a phone, but I do. Do you, ah, have Sandra’s number handy?”
“Oh, now, look, you two!” Steve interrupted. “I think this little game has gone far enough. You’re not really going to bust us up, are you?”
“Right now, I’m not sure,” snapped Ken. “Anyway, you don’t have any room to talk, you know.”
“Well, at least I didn’t fuss—” He stopped short and covered his mouth.
“What do you mean?” asked Cynthia. “You didn’t fuss with who?”
“It isn’t anything, probably,” reassured Ella. “Forget it.”
“Hey, look at the time,” said Steve, changing his tone. “We’d better be getting on home. Remember, I’m treating you guys today.” He reached into his pocket for some change to pay for the sodas. As he did, a shiny metal object fell to the floor. He dived for it and tried to stuff it back into his pocket before anyone saw what it was. But he was too late. Cynthia had it in her hand.
“My ring!” she exclaimed.
“Correction,” said Ken. “Steve’s ring.”
“Yes, but he gave it to me ’cause we’re…going…steady…” Her voice trailed off, and she eyed the other three suspiciously. They looked at one another, none of them daring to speak a word.
“Now I’m putting it all together,” Cynthia continued. “No wonder you didn’t ask me to the banquet the minute you saw the announcement. I knew I had put your ring on the bench by the jukebox that day at the pool when we had our swimming party. I thought I had lost it, and all the time you had it!” She shifted her gaze toward Ken and Ella. “And you two knew it all the time. Of course, you’d know, Ken. But, Ella, why didn’t you tell me that Steve had somebody new—”
“Honest, Cynthia,” Steve interrupted. “It’s not somebody new. I—I just, well, want to ‘play the field’ awhile.”
“But don’t you realize what you’re doing to us?” Cynthia persisted. “The four of us, I mean?”
“But we can still be friends,” Ken argued.
“That’s not the point!” Cynthia snapped back. “You just don’t understand! Anyway, when you knew about it, you shouldn’t have kept it from me so long!” Then, turning toward Steve, she softened her tone. “All right, if that’s the way you feel, okay. Be a wolf and have your fun. Forget I even exist. Forget all those good times we had together. Forget that graduation night two years ago and all the promises you made. Forget it all!” She paused. “But, Steve, I won’t forget, I can’t forget. And someday you’re going to be tortured and hurt by somebody. Remember what I said, Steve Emory, someday you’ll be sorry!” With that she got up and left, still clutching the ring in her fingers. Steve started after her, but Ken shook his head.
“Let her go,” he said. Steve shrugged and sat back down. He started to say something and then stopped. For a few minutes, everyone was silent. Finally, Steve could bear it no longer, so he excused himself with, “See you kids tomorrow.”
“Steve?” Ella called to him.
“Yes?” he said without turning around. Ella made no reply. Steve whirled around. “Aw, look,” he said, “I’m just as sorry as you are that it had to happen like this. But it was going to come out sometime anyway, so,” and he shrugged, “this is the way it happened. I didn’t want to hurt her, but she knew as well as I did it wouldn’t last for eternity. She should be able to accept some facts.”
“You always told her it would last for eter—”
“Aw, Ella,” Steve said disgustedly. “You’re as naïve as she is. For pity’s sake, every fellow has a line of some sort.”
Ella rose to her feet, shaking her head slowly. “You men are all alike,” she said as she departed.
“Aw, forget it,” Ken told him. “Let’s go.”
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