“All I Have to Do Is Dream” (piano)
Listen to this chapter, “After the Tears.”
“Would you like to sit with us, Bob and Sandra and me, during the last meeting?” Julie asked Allen as they were eating supper.
Allen nodded. “Let’s meet just inside the main door of the Sports Arena at, say, a quarter to seven,” he suggested. Then they went their separate ways.
Finding Bob and Sandra, Julie smiled sweetly. Sandra, holding on to Bob’s arm, looked around. “Julie!” she cried. “Where’s Allen?” There was a definite tone of disappointment in Sandra’s voice, and tears welled in the corners of her eyes.
“No, Sandra!” Julie protested. “No ‘triste’ now. It’s all over.” Julie could not allow her best friend to feel the sadness.
Bob looked at his “little sis” with a tender understanding. “Just how did it happen, Julie?”
Julie smiled. She knew Bob and Sandra were concerned. Even Allen had told her, “Go ahead and tell Bob and Sandra everything that happened if you want to. They’ll understand. They love you, too.”
“Let’s go sit down some place,” Bob continued, “and you can tell us the whole story.” And so they did until a quarter of seven.
“So, you see,” Julie concluded, “I feel if I can be with him for one evening and not break down it’ll be so much easier.”
The three of them were waiting for Allen by the main door when Sandra excused herself. “Be right back,” she said. “I’m thirsty.”
A minute later Allen appeared. Then he, Julie, and Bob were waiting for Sandra when suddenly she burst through the doorway with a tall, dark, handsome stranger. Not seeing Allen at first, she exclaimed, “Julie, Julie! I was just walking around out there and look who I found!”
Julie looked and instinctively stretched out her arms. “Bill!” she cried excitedly.
“Hi, there!” Bill said, accepting her embrace. His voice was soft but just as excited.
“Bill,” she said, trying desperately to calm down, “there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” She turned to see Allen talking to a friend from San Margo and pretending to be unaware of what had just taken place. “Excuse me, Allen,” she said sweetly, “I’d like you to meet Bill Johnson. Bill, Allen Macintosh.”
As they shook hands and exchanged greetings, a strange feeling of pride swelled in Julie. Presently Allen said, “Well, I guess I’d better go now.”
“Oh, you don’t have to go now,” Julie said. “We’ll all sit together.”
Julie, please stop being facetious—or naïve, Allen’s eyes said, and he shook his head. “I’ll see you later.” And he watched Julie walk away with Bill.
The meeting was exceptionally good. Julie and Bill, with Sandra and Bob, enjoyed it. Although they had only seen each other once before in their lives—and Bill had even forgotten her name—they felt like old friends as they sat and talked and teased each other.
“Don’t you really remember my name?” she asked.
“No,” he laughed. “Please tell me.”
“I don’t think I will,” she teased. “Just make up a name you think fits me.”
He thought a minute. “How about ‘Kitten’?” So Kitten Julie was, ever after that.
After the meeting that night, Sandra and Bob introduced Bill to Mrs. Macintosh and Darlene and the rest of the little Riverdale group when they met at their appointed post.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Sandra suggested eagerly. “It’s such a pretty night—the stars and the sea…” Her voice faded as she looked toward Mrs. Macintosh for approval. The rest of the kids—except for Allen—joined Sandra’s plea.
And so it was that a little group of couples and a few adult chaperones and some younger kids—minus Allen who waited in the car—strolled around the famous Rainbow Pier. Julie’s hand was safely tucked into Bill’s.
For a lovely hour they were together before they said the goodbyes. Bob left first, kissing his sweetheart and “sister,” but knowing he and Sandra would be together in just five months at Pacific Christian College.
Bill found his mother, Lena, and introduced her to Mrs. Macintosh. Then he said goodbye to Julie, not knowing just when he would see her again. He only knew he would write.