young love?

 Some See a Weed, Some See a Wish

I See a Magic Stick

       I kind of had eyes for a girl who was riding my bus back when I was about 16. Yes folks I wasn’t allowed to have my license till I was 18 years old, as it was clearly Mom’s rule that none of us would have our license till we were 18. She had messed around and was hauling half of East Sparta around and using the family car as community vehicle eliciting an enormous amount of popularity among her classmates that had even fewer cars during the post-World War 2 times. My Grandpa’s and Grandmas car at one time or another had hauled the south side of Canton around that time and Mom was going to make sure we didn’t follow her slide to immorality of being the one in control of transportation in a car less community. Cars were tanks on wheels back then and mom had a key to the gas tank here on the farm, and made sure she knew how to use it in case someone around would need a ride.

      She was not going to let us go that way so I was forced to ride in a school bus till I was 18 years old until mom sensing a need for me to have my license was finally allowed to take Drivers Ed , and have my license in my senior year,  even then mom was reluctant. So day after day I would run for the bus as I was always late, down our long lane and just jump on in time as he rolled away barely able to find a seat as the bus would lurch forward propelling me to the rear of the bus as the momentum increased, then I would find an empty seat as I slam myself down  and ride in silence , as most of my friends rode in other friends cars at that time, and I was too far out of the way to come pick up.

       After school and as we were waiting for the buses to show up after their first round of dropping off elementary kids , we would maul around and talk with other students in classes usually below us as Susie was . I had noticed Susie and she was quite good looking at the time and although I was shy I did manage to finally strike up a conversation with her as I had noticed her watching me, giving me the eye. You know the one. Where you look at them and suddenly they look away and then their eyes dart back to you and you look away shyly. Well after doing this for like a couple of months and being pressured by summer vacation I felt it was my duty one ay to try and break the ice after learning a clever maneuver guaranteed to fetch a woman’s heart , or piss her off badly. I think I managed both with Susie.

    I said to her about how lovely the dandelions looked.

    She looked at me incredulously thinking like just what is this big oaf trying to impress me with his sensitivity towards nature to show her what a well-rounded learned individual I was  . Surely this can’t be passed and so Susie looked at me with her cute young smile and leaned towards me and said shyly.” You don’t say!”

     And I returned quite quickly with “Yes I do, I went on with did you know that  when a dandelion goes to seed , and that is not the yellow flower, but instead the seed head and I reached down and grabbed a seed head up to show her , and I went further and holding the dandelion up close to my eyes and pinched off a couple of the white flowery seeds from the fluffy white head, and continued explaining how if you take a pinch of seeds and place them anywhere on her body, that I can find it with the rest of the seed head as the dandelion has magical ,powers not normally known to man. Anyhow it already had the power to tell if you like butter by simply holding a dandelion blossom under your chin and if it glows yellow then you like butter. So would it be such a far reach that the blossom head could find a pinch of seeds anywhere on her body. And I was willing and ready to show her.

     Well she contemplated the idea for about a second and was curious enough to play along and somewhat excited about the idea of me running a fluffy dandelion around her young body. I told her to hide it as I offered her a pinch and I turned around and hid my face to assure her I was legit. I could hear her say, “Oh no, not there,” maybe once or twice as if she was really thinking about it or just toying with me. Finally I turned around and Susie had a smile from ear to ear, saying I would never find it. I thought, maybe I won’t but at least I will have fun. A far cry from what I would normally do at the bus stop like melt in the sun. Anyhow I started up by her face and said it’s getting warm, and I moved lower down her body and around with a getting warmer and colder here and there as I would venture around shaking my now limp dandelion head as my sweaty hands shook from the excitement of being this close to someone I had really liked. She too, had reservations about letting me wander around with my limp dandelion head sniffing out her nervousness as eventually after scouring her body and not coming up with anything I returned to the area around the bottom of her neck just brushing the head under her chin, making her jump a bit but she allowed me to continue as I said hot, hot, wow this thing is getting hot, shaking the head a little bit to dramatize the event. I told her to open up mouth as I shook it by her mouth indicating she may have it tucked away in her mouth and reluctantly she opened her mouth to prove it wasn’t there and as she did I shoved the dandelion head into her mouth making her gag on the seeds and she started laughing and coughing knowing she had been had. I laughed so hard and then helped her look for seeds she was still spitting up and gagging on, then letting her know drool was running down her chin. I guess the random acts of kindness after making a fool out of her impressed her and soon we were going with each other, just like that.

    Susie and I exchanged phone numbers and a time we would call each other. I never realized how simple it was to become involved in a relationship of boyfriend- girlfriend basis. I didn’t have to kiss her or anything else just give her my class ring. The largest ever sold at sandy valley as far as I know. A massive gold nugget in size 14, which probably took an ounce of white gold and twelve elven Dutchmen a year to engrave as it was so huge. I placed it on her hand and she tried it on and could actually put 2 fingers in the same ring hole as mine. It was that big. She took it home and wasted half a spool of angora and eventually decided there weren’t enough rabbits alive to ever get it to fit so she hung it around her neck. We talked nervously on the phone as the phone slipped nervously out of sweaty hands twice that night as I tried to be cool on the phone that night.  But then she broke up with me the very next day. She claimed the ring was giving her a neck ache and was making her bend over from the weight. She didn’t know if she could stand up to the load, besides everything was moving to quick. Susie was my first and soon she was quickest relationship I have ever been in. I missed her but not a lot as when I looked back on the memories there were only a few, and mostly of me taking advantage of her. When I think back I still have to chuckle when I think of the story.

     I was kind of devastated, maybe it was because I was unproven, a virgin when it came to relationships. Not knowing what went wrong or right as it was all over way to quick and not even a kiss let alone anything else. Much simpler times back then I must say.  Well many have come and many have gone and still I think it was possibly the simplest one I had ever been in. By chance years later I had the opportunity to run into Susie at a farm store of all places when she was with a friend shopping. Purely by accident and I never recognized her and it was only through conversation we had come to the conclusion we knew each other. She was married and living almost 80 miles way and over 30 years had been passed through our lives to achieve this chance encounter. I was so glad she was able to recuperate so well after our relationship and move on with her life. It was a good thing we were not together still as with the frontage she owned by then along with the weight of the ring she would have had road burns on her nose.

      I eventually had the ring stolen and of course my first woman was gone , married and moved on. A fitting end to both. Guess it was never meant to be.