day with Otis. They had gone swimming at Sun Tan Acres, the Mt. Pilot to see the latest beach party movie, eaten dinner at Antonosanti’s, and, according to Pee Wee, they spent three hours in the Princeton Motel, one block from the church we all attended, doing the unspeakable! Pee Wee told me Caleb told him. A woman Caleb kept company with worked as a maid at the motel, and she had told Caleb. “They got a lot of nerve fuckin’ that close to the church!” Pee Wee said right after he had told me.
“He’s got a few rough edges, but I can smooth them out by the time we’re old enough to get married,” Rhoda said thoughtfully. “And guess what, he’s been to Paris and the Bahamas, too.”
“Who cares!” I snapped.
“You don’t like him, do you?” She sounded sad and serious.
“NO!’
“Why not?”
“Because he’s a boy, and he’s going to ruin everything for me—just like Mr. Boatwright!”
Rhoda sighed and touched my shoulder and shook her head. “No he’s not. I…listen, this thing with Buttwright is destroyin’ you, girl. If you won’t expose him, maybe we should find you a good therapist to see you through it.”
I bristled. “A therapist? Me? I’m not the one that’s crazy. Mr. Boatwright’s the one that needs mental help. I—let’s change the subject. Um…that Jamaican, you’re serious about marrying him?”
Rhoda took her hand off my shoulder and gave me a look of pity. I was spoiled and selfish where she was concerned, but it was her fault. She had me believing I was finally somebody important. The thought of the one thing I feared the most, a male, taking her from me made me crazy. I didn’t want to know what she was really thinking about me now. I couldn’t risk making her mad enough to sever our relationship.
“Well who wouldn’t be? He’s cute, he’s smart, and his folks are well-off. They run an orange grove in Florida. That’s what he’s goin’ to do after graduation. Go back to Florida and run the family farm with his grandfather. He really likes you. He asks about you all the time. He thought maybe we could all go out together sometime.”
“Why?” I gasped, my heart fluttering. I refused to let her see my face. I couldn’t hide my disgust. I looked toward the street and started counting cars.
“You’re my best friend, and I’ve told him all about you—”
I looked at her fast and hard. “I hope you didn’t tell him about me and Mr. Boatwright.”
“Heck no. I promised I would never tell anybody about that, and I won’t.”
“I don’t think I want to go out with him. What kind of fun do you expect to have with him breathing down out necks?” I said, shaking my head and giving Rhoda the most serious look I could.
“Oh come on. He wants us to go to the drive-in movies. Him and me and…you and Jock.”
Horrified, I stopped in my tracks. “Jock? What’s wrong with you, girl?” I roared. I had never raised my voice to Rhoda until then. “You must be out of your mind! Next to Mr. Boatwright, Jock is the meanest, nastiest male alive! I wouldn’t be caught dead in a car at a drive-in movie at night with Jock!” I noticed people in passing cars looking at me. I lowered my voice and wiped sweat from my face. Rhoda’s face was a mask of incredulity.
“Buttwright wouldn’t have to know. I won’t tell anybody,” she said tiredly with great sadness in her voice.
“It’s not just Mr. Boatwright. You of all people know I hate boys—especially Jock. Him with his tattoos and nasty ways and beer and gang friends. He sasses grown people, he passes gas in church just to be funny, he cusses—”
“I cuss. Pee Wee cusses. I’ve even heard you cuss.”
“You and me cussing is different. We only do it when we get provoked. Pee Wee, well he’s not a real boy anyway, so he doesn’t count. Let’s change the subject.”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Anything. Anything but boys…” I replied.
CHAPTER 23
The first time I went to the movies with Rhoda and Otis I felt uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as they looked. Otis kept clearing his throat, and Rhoda kept shifting her body in her seat. We occupied a back row at the Mt. Pilot Theater watching a Hells Angels movie. I hated biker movies so much I didn’t even know the name of the one we were watching. I was with Otis and