“Why Do Fools Fall in Love?”
Listen to this story, “Drive to Oceanview”
R-r-ring! It was the telephone again.
“Hello?” It was Julie who spoke.
“Julie?”
“Oh, hi, Allen!”
“Say, punkin, you’re going down to the beach with us, aren’t you?”
“Oh, I suppose so, if you really want me tagging along in your car.”
“Come off it, doll, you know we’d love to have you. Don’t you?”
Julie laughed. “Okay. What time is everybody leaving?”
“Everybody’s supposed to meet at eight o’clock sharp tomorrow morning at the church. But we’ll come by and get you about ten till. Is that all right with you?”
“Fine.”
And so on Tuesday morning, Julie and her suitcase found themselves in the Macintoshes’ station wagon. It was a lovely day and a pleasant drive to Beach City and then to Oceanview Beach. Allen’s parents, Pastor and Mrs. Macintosh, were young and full of fun. It seemed to Julie that they treated everyone, even their own family, like special company. She felt very privileged to be the girlfriend of the pastor’s son.
Right now Allen sat next to her with his arm on the back of the seat. All ears, from little Kenny to Betty Macintosh, were listening to the exciting Dodger baseball game on the radio. All ears except Julie’s. She let her eyes rest on the passing scenery as her mind wandered back to the day when the Macintoshes had first moved to Riverdale. She smiled inside, remembering her first “date” with Allen, attending a concert at La Paloma College, and walking back to the car in the November rain.
The Macintosh family had made a big impression on Julie from the day they had invited her home from church to their house for dinner. Their place was not much then for they had just moved into it. But Julie, with her taste and talent for decorating, could see it had enormous potential.
Julie soon learned that the Macintoshes used to be in high society. Pastor Don Macintosh had pastored an enormous church in Hollywood of another Protestant denomination and had made a fabulous salary. To him then, the ministry was a successful career instead of a devoted life to God. Now things had changed. They were humble and thoughtful and some of the nicest people Julie had ever known. But Allen still could not hide that he was used to living a sophisticated life.
“We must be almost there,” said Mrs. Macintosh. “I can feel the ocean air, can’t you, Julie?”
They were almost there, and Julie could feel the cool ocean breeze on her face, and she tingled all over with excitement. Professor Emory with his station wagon and Dr. Donaldson with his truck full of teenagers didn’t stop in Beach City or go down to Oceanview Beach but followed the Macintoshes through Beach City and along the coast highway for almost two miles. There they drove into a spacious parking lot beside a large brand-new building with a blue and white sign on the front, “Hotel Hancock.”
Pastor Macintosh went into the air-conditioned lobby and walked up to the desk. “I’m Don Macintosh,” he said. “I believe we have reservations.”
“Ah, yes,” replied the little bald-headed desk clerk, “you must be the church group from Riverdale. Dr. Hancock has arranged for the boys to be on the east side of the second floor, and the girls on the west side of the fourth floor. The guest suites on the third floor are for the married couples. Here’s a list of the rooms. You can pick up the keys later.”
The adults assigned everyone to his or her room, three or four people to a room. There were not very many in the little group from Riverdale—about 22 altogether counting the grownups. Julie stayed with her two best friends, Sandra and Sarah. There was a most beautiful view of the ocean and sky from the veranda.
It was almost 10:30 by the time everyone had gotten their things into their respective rooms and gathered in the lobby where Dr. Hancock himself greeted them. He was a rather plump gray-haired man in his late fifties and a successful and most wealthy surgeon. He was not a member of the church although he donated to the cause occasionally. He was just an old friend of the Macintoshes. He and Pastor Macintosh’s father had gone to school together, and Don Macintosh’s father had helped him financially and otherwise. Now he was returning “a little appreciation” by having the youth of the Riverdale church as guests in his brand-new hotel.
After Pastor Macintosh and Professor Emory had given instructions as to off limits, et cetera, et cetera, the kids scurried down to the beach. It was a lovely uncluttered beach—a parcel of ground Dr. Hancock had purchased. It extended a half-mile on either side of the hotel and was for the exclusive use of the guests of Hotel Hancock.
Allen and Julie were together, as usual. They had completely forgotten the fight over the phone, at least consciously. But ‘way back in Julie’s subconscious there remained a tinge of rebellion. I’ll show him, Julie had thought in a moment of fierce emotion. Someday he’ll find out he’s not the only fish in the sea, and then he’ll be sorry for the way he’s treated me. But now Julie never dreamed that anything could tear her heart from Allen’s.
Boys’ shouts of laughter and girls’ screams of delight arose from the little group on the beach. There were little Kenny Macintosh and little Sharon Emory splashing around in the shallow waves and being helped over the big ones by Pastor Macintosh. Mrs. Macintosh, Mrs. Emory, and Mrs. Donaldson sat chatting on the beach under a big umbrella. Then there was pre-teener Peter Macintosh who was brave enough to follow the receding waves but ran from them when they came rolling back in. Sandra and Sarah had swum out farther, and Allen and Julie floated on a rubber raft, Julie hanging on to him for dear life. Of course, there were those in the group who delighted in surfing. Dr. Jim Donaldson, Sr., and Professor Clinton Emory, along with Steve Emory, Steve’s best friend Ken Nelson, and Ken’s vivacious girlfriend Gloria Martin, were having a great time on their surfboards ‘neath the warm California sun. Sitting on the wet sand, tossing a beach ball into the water and letting the waves bring it back to them, and occasionally going in, sat Ella, a timid redhead, and her best friend, not-so-timid Cynthia who admired the tall and handsome Steve and was secretly wishing. And last but not least was Ella’s younger brother Frank and the “class clown” Carlos playing a rough game of tag in and out of the water.
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