First the actual day. It was going to be another weekend down in the valley this time. I was fairly sure there were no more lurking catastrophes waiting for me but being sick forestalled it anyway.
Oct 28, 1966 Friday
I knew I was sick but I managed to stagger to two classes anyway and to pretend to eat breakfast and lunch. I walked uptown and ran into the Boss, telepathed or maybe teleported to him that I was there. We ran a few errands and by then I was really ill. Went by the infirmary on campus. I had a fever of 102 and the doctor wanted to keep me but finally released me with a shot of penicillin and some big capsules to take. Then it was home and to bed for yours truly. Sick again with a different medal. Maybe this one was in LA, you reckon? Yes, of course it was.
So now back to the interim week. Not much to discuss--or was there? Oh yes, there actually was. First the weekend, October 22-23.
Saturday I had a donut and coffee in the CU (Campus Union--same bldg as cafeteria)and then dressed for the Honors Convocation. Of course they did this for Parent's Weekend. Well, I had no parents who wished to be there and no desire to have them there so I went by myself and got nice little certificates of Honors at Entrance and my scholarship. Back by 11:00, I changed and took off to escape the confusion but came back to change again and go to the game with a few of the other 'parentless' girls. It was even better than homecoming and the 'Jacks won 32-12. I felt a little lonely and neglected that evening. Where was Dusty? And where was Jim McL? I really wished I'd have a "caller in the lobby!"
The next day I managed to get out and train watch, walk, then came back as it got windy. I worked on homework and on my Cindy and the Challenges book that had sat semi-complete for months. Later I found the little bridge up near the Chamber of Commerce building across Beaver from the depot and watched the trains and traffic. Back in the room after a snack, I was working on Cindy when I had a phone call. Finally! Very soon I was slipping into a little blue VW bug for the first time. We drove out to the west and off the highway to park near someone's big shipping corral right beside the tracks.Talk flowed easily as if it had just been days and not months, partly catch up and partly just reconnecting. (I spoke of none of the home crap.) Then we had to touch. The magic was still there too. I would have stayed in that embrace 'til doomsday but the 11:00 curfew came too soon so we went back. Dusty said work was a bearcat and he might not get back real soon but he would, and although he felt he ought to "set me free" to pursue some college men, he wanted more to keep me. I did not disagree with that. He was very protective and possessive of me which I appreciated. He said "Give it (us?) another year." I was not sure the full import of that but trusted it meant good things. For now the reunion was all I could have hoped for. There was still an 'us' and we will go on. We traded medals for the first time in many months which by now had become a kind of odd little ritual.
The next four days passed with no fanfare. Classes and a few walks to town and the rail yard. I got letters from Jim and from Mom with no real news from home, got a bad grade on a Philosophy quiz but did better elsewhere. Went to the Rodeo Club and looked for some of Peggy Watt's friends Dusty had told me about. Not sure I really identified them but thought they looked buckle bunny cheap! I had also learned her boyfriend was a pre-law student, two years ahead of me. Whoa! There was a dorm meeting Thursday evening which I felt was a pointless nuisance; that made me late to bed, by then not feeling too good. Friday came then and another descent into the Valley as I already described. October was close to over, and almost two months as a coed were behind me.
Photos: Not "the" Little Bluebird but a very similar looking car I soon became very familiar with. Then the new version of the little bridge I hung out near often; so many trees now in that arroyo. Next a view from 1966- same bridge-then this was a spur track leading somewhere for freight to be dropped. It is now a foot and bike bridge with no rails. Last the Forestry Building where the Rodeo Club met in one room. I never had a class there. Kind of wish I had gone more that way. Different career and life? Too late now.
No comments:
Post a Comment