INFATUATION AT AN EXTERMINATORS' CONVENTION

DOING THE TWIST - 1962

I met Al at an exterminators' convention on Jekyll Island the summer of '62. His father was the actual exterminator, but the rest of the family had come along for a vacation.  I have no memory of actually meeting Al or what I was doing at the exterminators' dance.  But I do recall feeling as if I had known him a long time and not just an hour or two.  This close feeling was undoubtedly helped along by several drinks.  Although Jekyll was a dry island, everyone had brought a bottle and lots of soda.  Al and I saw no reason not to sample what his parents had brought and being inexperienced drinkers, we soon became extremely cheerful and amorous as young folks are wont to do.  After dancing very close for a while it became clear that kissing one another was absolutely necessary.  Since Al's parents were busy on the dance floor, Al thought their hotel room might afford us some privacy so we stole away into the night, giggling at our own cleverness.  Soon we were lying together on one of the beds, kissing.  Now, remember it was 1962 so I was wearing a lovely black cocktail dress, a black half slip, stockings, a Merry Widow bra, a GIRDLE and high heels.  Al was in a suit and tie so nothing improper could possibly go on, which was a good thing because after only a few minutes of kissing, Al's mother suddenly entered the room.  Aghast at seeing her son lying on the bed with a strange young lady, the poor woman averted her eyes and mumbled something about needing her comb.  Al and I lay there in shocked silence, thanking God we were fully dressed. After his mother made her hasty departure, Al suggested another setting must be found so the kissing could continue.  When we went outside, Al ran into a friend who had a car and was also looking for a secluded place to be alone with his young lady.  We soon found a deserted beach shimmering in the moonlight.  The other couple quickly disappeared into the underbrush, but Al and I were more romantic and wandered along the beach, looking at the stars and smiling warmly at one another.  Soon we were standing at the water's edge on some rocks thinking it would be a good idea to start kissing again.  So we did.  We were soon transported into a lovely sensual world we had no wish to leave.  Until.....we both noticed a strange sinking sensation.  Reluctantly,we pulled our lips apart and saw
WE WERE SINKING!
The rocks we were standing on were slowly sinking into the sea and we had been oblivious.

The rest of the evening is a delightful blur.  Al was barefoot as his dress shoes were ruined, but he barely noticed.  My shoes were wet and my stockings torn but I was feeling the intoxication of early infatuation. At one point the four of us went to an all night coffee shop and tried to revive ourselves with bacon and eggs.  I remember my head falling slowly to the counter and I slept for a few moments until I was gently awakened by Al who said his friend would drive us to the condemned hotel where I stayed.  Al followed me up the stairs to the Girls' Floor where we found an empty room with fresh linens.  As Al took off his jacket and tie, I ran to my room and took off the dress, the slip, the Merry Widow, the torn stockings and the Girdle and threw on my nightgown.  I crawled into bed with Al and whatever romantic plans we may have had for the brief hours before dawn came to naught as after a few gentle kisses we fell asleep.  When morning came I awoke to find Al gone, but he had scribbled a note on the back of his dad's business card.  Barefoot he ran across the island from my ancient hotel to his, slipped into his room and fell asleep to be awakened by his mother just in time for breakfast.  Al and his parents came into the restaurant where I worked, but weren't seated at my tables.  College addresses were exchanged at some point and fevered promises to meet.  Al kissed me at the door.  All my waitress friends were wide-eyed, but I smiled mysteriously and said nothing.

Al and I corresponded regularly and he came to Wesleyan two or three times.  We remained close--we understood each other.  But after a while he stopped writing.  Perhaps there was a crisis in the family; perhaps he met someone else.  I never knew.  But he lived on in my memory.  I still have sense memories of that first night we met, the warmth, the kisses, the innocence.

SNOW WHITE IS SENT INTO THE FOREST

"I shall consult my mirror one more time before I send for the

Huntsman," said the Queen, looking at her ravishing face in the glass.  "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the most beautiful of all?  And I don't want to hear the name of that silly girl!"

The mirror looked with pity at the Queen and then said,

"Although I sympathize with your plight,

the very fairest is still Snow White."

Enraged, the Queen called for her serving maid.  "Girl, fetch the Huntsman; he is waiting in the outer room."

The maid feared her royal mistress and left the room with speed.  Almost immediately the Huntsman appeared.

"Huntsman, I have an important commission you must carry out for me this very night.  Wait until the Princess is asleep; then carry her into the forest and shoot an arrow into her heart.  Then bring her heart to me as proof she is dead."

"But Your Majesty, what has Snow White done?  She is  known throughout the land for her goodness and beauty."

"I don't want to hear it, you wretched man," she screamed.  "Do as I command now or.......I shall kill you where you stand."

The Huntsman staggered and almost fell.  He knew the Queen  was wicked, but surely she was now mad as well.  He could barely speak he was so shocked.  

"Yes, Your Grace, I shall do as I am ordered."  He could not look upon the Queen and he swiftly left the room.

When the moon was high in the night sky, the Huntsman entered Snow White's chamber and lifted her into his arms.  Her eyes were wide with terror, but he told her not to scream, that all would be well.  The Huntsman carried her outside and gently placed the girl on his horse.  Together they rode into the forest, but Snow White said not a word.  When they had ridden far enough, the Huntsman jumped down from his horse and then held out his arms for the princess.

"Your Grace, you must journey deep into the forest and never return to the palace unless you hear the Queen is dead.  I have brought food with me which will last you a few days.  You must find shelter tomorrow and remain hidden.  You must not return home; do you understand?  Your life is in danger."

"I will save myself, Sir.  I promise I will not return home.  You are a kind and gentle man, Huntsman.  I shall not forget you."

"Nor will I forget you, my Lady.  Take my cloak so you won't be cold tonight."  He went down on one knee and looked into her face.  "You will be Queen one day, Princess.  Now run!"

The Huntsman leaped upon his horse and rode away.  He would shoot a rabbit and take its heart to the Queen.  Then when she had paid him, he would take his wife and son and they would move far, far away and remain there until Snow White was Queen.

TO BE CONTINUED

THE WORLD INTRUDES ON THAT GOLDEN SUMMER

"If the Boss sees you flirting with them black boys, you girls will get fired!  He don't like that kind of thing.  It ain't right and that's all there is to it," said Dora Lee, a raw-boned middle-aged woman with red hair and strange teeth.  The only waitress not a college girl, Dora Lee felt her calling was to instruct us not only in the fine art of waiting tables, but also in Life.

"Oh, we're not flirting with the busboys, Dora Lee," said Liz.  "We're just teasing them and being friendly.  They help us a lot."

"I can't carry those trays; they're too heavy," I said.  "I have weak wrists."

Dora Lee looked at me like I was weak-minded too.  "All I'm saying is if you girls want to keep working here, you better stop messing with the busboys.  This is Georgia, not New York City and the boss will not approve."  And Dora Lee shot a mean look at Lisa, the waitress who came from New York City.

Lisa stepped forward and stated her position with a cool sophistication we all envied.  "What I don't approve of is the fact that Larry, our White cook, makes $125 a week while Annie Mae, our Black cook who works beside Larry only earns $40 a week for the same work.  And what I also find totally inappropriate is that the "Boss" kisses his beautiful daughter on the mouth every day.  I mean, it borders on the incestuous."

Dora Lee's face turned a deep,unflattering shade of  pink and all her freckles stood out.  None of us girls said a word; we were scared.

"You got no business knowing what anybody makes who works here.  And the Boss can do whatever he wants because he's the boss.  What you said about him and his daughter is just nasty, you Yankee bitch.  You make me sick!  I need a cigarette."  And with that Dora Lee walked out the door.

"A very good example of poor white trash," said Lisa calmly.  "And I need a cigarette too; I really do."  She looked at us all standing there with wide eyes and open mouths.  "Girls, the world is changing out there.  All you little Southern belles need to catch up."

"I was born in New York City," I blurted out, not knowing why.

Lisa surveyed me with her cool gaze.  "Well, it doesn't show."

Lisa walked out of our lives and we never saw her again.  She was fired for dating a black man.

THE BEST SUMMER OF MY LIFE!

I couldn't bear to spend the summer at home where tension hung in the air like thick fog, so when my friend Bootsie asked me to spend the summer with her waiting tables at a resort on Jekyll Island, I was in!  Her father drove us down in his newly air conditioned car (it was 1962) where the temperature was about 40 degrees for the whole trip.  I sat in the back seat with my teeth chattering, but I wouldn't complain.  I was free for the first time in my life! Bootsie and I found jobs at a round glass restaurant right on the beach. When told that we would be picked up at 6:30

 AM, to work breakfast I almost fainted, but I kept on smiling.  All the college students

were staying at an old hotel which many years ago was a luxurious place where very wealthy people gathered.  At this point, part of the building was condemned and the rest should have been, but hey! it was $15 per week and the linens were changed weekly.  A double bed dominated the room and the sink in the bathroom was the size of a small baking pan.  All the girls were housed on one floor and the boys were on the floor above.  

The  biggest attraction was the pool outside which was fed by an artesian well. After work we all sat around the always cold and refreshing pool and built up

our tans.  That summer was the only time in my life when I had a tan, but I have paid for that golden skin by having skin cancer for 25 years.  When not lounging by the pool, we rode bikes around the island which was beautiful.

There were no parents, no house mothers, no hall monitors and no rules.  Since it was a dry island we were forced to drink as much as we could.  At night the parties lasted for hours; it was after all the summer of the Twist.  If there wasn't a party, there was always some young man who wanted to take us on a date.

Dates on Jekyll consisted of the young man getting a hold of some liquor and something to mix it with and lying on the beach with a willing young lady.  There was drinking and 

kissing followed by more kissing and

drinking.  The reason nothing got out of hand was the beach at night was also inhabited by many, many turtles as well as many, many people searching for these turtles and their eggs.  These folks were serious and earnest adults with flashlights and a scientific bent and we were drunken and entwined young people who were up to no good.  But it is impossible to lose one's virtue when turtles keep marching by followed by oblivious adults who kick sand in your face and step on your feet.  I'd had no idea that romance could be so difficult.

But while we were drinking and twisting and kissing on the moonlit beach, the world beyond our little island was changing.  We heard reports of black people being beaten for trying to sit in a white restaurant.  These troubles seemed so distant from our carefree days of serving tables and sitting by the pool.  But soon we would all be forced to change our ideas, our attitudes and our behaviors.
Wrenching change would soon begin to tear our country apart and its reverberations
would even reach our little paradise.

       

                                              TO BE CONTINUED