Dee

                                         DEE
              It was way too nice a day to be going to school!  The summer had passed too fast for Joey.  On this first day of the new term he had no wish to get up and get on the school bus and start another year.

         Tim didn't mind.  He liked school.  Tim actually liked school!  This was incomprehensible to Joey.  At fifteen Joey didn't hate school in the same way Jess had done at his age.  He obeyed rules and stayed out of trouble and got along with just about everybody.  He also got good grades because he had no choice, the way Jess kept up with it on his homework.  But school restricted him and Joey was the kind of free spirit who did not like restrictions.  Tim didn't mind that; he liked things structured.  Joey commented about being a sophomore this year.  Tim asked him, "Do you know what sophomore means?"

         "You're going to tell me."

         "Soph comes from a Greek word meaning knowledge.  O is zero and sophomore means you  know zero more than you did last year."

         Joey didn't have a comeback for that so he let it go.  He was grumping and dragging his feet about the whole thing.  He lagged a few paces behind Tim going down the driveway to the bus stop. 

         They arrived at the end of a row of buses on the town square.  Joey got off and started across the square to the high school with Matt and Davy.  Jack Palmer came to join them.  Joey started to say something and then his mouth dropped open.  The others turned to see what he was looking at.

         Joey found his voice enough to ask, "Who is she?"  There was a girl he had never seen before, a tall girl with honey blond hair down her back.  She was wearing a blue dress  and had a white purse hung over her shoulder.  She was talking with several girls.

         Jack said,"I don't know.  I never saw her before.  She must be new."

         Joey stood staring at her.  He wondered if her eyes were blue like her dress, he wished she would turn so he could see her face.

         Then he found himself walking toward her almost without willing it.  Joey had never been shy.  But this time he had no idea what to say to her if he did get a chance.

         Then he was face to face with her.  She was incredible!  And yes, her eyes were blue.  He tried to speak and no sound came, so he cleared his throat and tried again.  His fifteen year old vocal cords were not all that reliable.  He hoped it would be his new, deeper voice that came out but it wasn't.  "Hi," he said hoping he was showing more confidence than he felt.  "You must be new here.  I'm Joey MacIver."

         She said her name was Deirdre Colby and her voice was like music.  He repeated the name, "Deirdre."  It was a name he hadn't heard before.  But of course, this goddess would have a name different from the names of the mere mortal girls all around her.

         She said, "Everybody calls me Dee, call me Dee."

         So he had permission to call her Dee!  Now what would he say?  He heard himself asking dumb questions like what grade she was in, and listening to the sweet music of her answers.

         The first bell rang and now he was walking with her toward the doors.  By the time they reached the steps he had found out she used to live in Carthage when she was very small and had just moved back here from Camden, and she was in tenth grade, like him.  With any luck at all she'd be in some of his classes.  As they parted to go to their home rooms Joey was thinking, there was never a girl that beautiful in this school before and he was going to have to move quickly getting to know her because he was sure other guys had noticed her too.
         For the first time in his life he could really begin to appreciate how Jess had felt about Nyla.  Joey liked everybody, that was a given, but this was a new kind of liking.  It was making him a little bit light headed.  There are people who believe in love at first sight.  Joey had just become one of them.
         She was in his first class of the day.  They were seated alphabetically in that class which put her in the front and Joey in the middle, where he could watch her from his seat.
         He couldn't have told you anything at all that the teacher said, but he could tell you anything you wanted to know about Dee.  She sat in her seat and put her hands under her hair and flipped it so that it hung behind the back of the chair.  For some reason Joey found that intoxicating! 
         
The door from the classroom into the corridor was in the back so Joey got out first and waited for her.  "Hi," he said.  She turned and looked up at him.  "Hi, Joey."  She remembered his name! 'Did you hear that?  She remembered my name!'
         He asked her where she had to go next and she consulted a schedule card.  "Science," she said.  "Room 212.  Where's that?"

         "I'm going there too," he said.  Oh happy coincidence!  So he was walking with her again.  This was turning out to be a good day after all.  She didn't seem to mind walking with him.  He could see other guys checking her out.  But he was the one walking with her.  He was the one helping her find her classroom.

         The whole day was like that.  They ate lunch together.  He hadn't expected that, but he would take it.  By the time he said goodby to her to go to his school bus they'd had time to talk.  He had found out some things about her and she now knew something about him.

         The most beautiful girl who had ever walked across the threshhold into the Carthage high school!  Would she really decide she liked him?  He didn't like the odds.  She could have her choice; he was sure of that.

         The truth was Joey could not remember anything any teacher said, but he remembered every word Dee had said, every nuance of her musical voice, every toss of the honey gold treasure of her hair.  Joey was smitten. He would have been a lot happier if he had known she was, too. Dee was impressed and she was aware that he liked her enough to keep looking for her all day. 

         Dee met her mother coming out of the grade school teachers' entrance.  Joey already knew that Mrs Colby was going to be teaching sixth grade this term.  "What kind of day did you have?" Cathy Colby asked her daughter.  "Did you meet any friends?"

         "I met a boy."

         "Just one boy?"

         "So far.  I really like him, Mom and I think he likes me.

"          "What's his name?"

         "Joey MacIver."

         Cathy drew back. She said, "Really?  Yes Joey would be about your age. "

         "You know him?"

         "I know his family.  I knew his grandmother and his uncle and his mother.  But we moved away from here when you were a baby."

         "Joey said he doesn't live with his parents.  His uncle is his guardian."

         "Yes I remember his uncle but he's not much older than Joey is."

         "Were you friends with the family?"

         "Not friends exactly but in a town like this everybody knows everybody else."

         "He's such a nice boy, Mom.  Polite and he's so handsome too!"

         Cathy's mind was going back into history.  This must be Cecily MacIver's child!  She remembered the vicious gossip that had been current around here at the event of this boy's birth.  She knew Cecily's reputation and she was kind of wondering what kind of boy this was who had caught her daughter's fancy.  If he was anything at all like Cecily ~~

         Dee went on.  "He showed me where all my classrooms are.  We even have the same lunch period."          

         "Do you think it's a good idea to make such close friends with one boy on the first day?"

         Dee pulled back a little.  "I didn't say I wanted him for a boy friend, I just said I liked him.  He was polite and friendly and really nice."

         But Cathy was remembering Jesse and Cecily MacIver from back then.  This incident of her daughter's meeting with Joey had red flags all over it!  Now what did she do about it?  Tell this girl not to see Joey and she would want to see him all the more.  And was it fair to judge him out of hand like that anyway?  She decided she was going to have to look into this before she made any decisions about it.

         So she said, "There's a lot of boys in this school, real nice boys and you don't want to get too friendly with one of them yet."

         "Joey lives on a farm just outside of town."

         Yes she remembered the place where the MacIvers had lived.  She was remembering it as kind of run down and shabby looking.  She remembered Jesse, too: a tall rawboned gangling child with hair the color of wheat and plastic rimmed glasses, always in some kind of trouble.  She had him in her sixth grade classroom as a matter of fact.  He broke the rules and he managed to get himself into one mess after another and never seemed to learn by experience.  Surprisingly he still got good grades.  His mother was a good woman, she remembered, but she seemed to have lost control of both her children.  The MacIvers had been dirt poor, a widowed mother with two children, doing her best.  So of all the boys in this town the one Dee had taken up with was Joey MacIver who must be Cecily's child. 

         Isn't that a kick in the head!  She would have to keep right on top of this.          
         
         Tim and Joey came into the house.  Trina greeted them at the door.  She kissed them and asked about their day.

         Tim said, "Joey met a girl."

         Joey said "I met a lot of girls."

         Tim said, "I only saw you with one."  He started up the stairs.           

         Trina said, "Jess is down on the range; he wanted you and Tim to come down there when you get your clothes changed."          

         "Trina can I ask you something?  Do you know anyting about a Colby family that used to live in Carthage?"                    

         "Colby," she asked herself.  "Oh, wait;  Cathy Richards married a man named Colby. They had a little daughter, just about the time you were born.  They were teachers.  He went in the Army and they moved  away during the war."

         "Was their daughter named Deirdre?"

         "I don't remember thar."

         "They live here again now.  I met Deirdre today at school."

         Joey went upstairs.  Joey could not dissemble any more than Jess could.  It was obvious to Trina that by saying he met Deirdre he was saying he had met someone he thought was very important to him.  Everything in Joey's heart was clearly readable on his face.

         So she thought it might not be a bad idea to talk to Jess about this. 
         After the boys went up to do homework in their rooms she said, "Jess, Joey met a girl."

         "Met a girl? he's only fifteen."

         "He didn't say anything to you about it?"

         "No, not in front of Tim.  I thought he was acting preoccupied but he wasn't too happy about going back to school."

         "Well he told me he met a girl.  Do you want to know what girl?"

         "Yeah, I suppose that would be relevant."

         "Do you remember Cathy Richards?"

         "No.  Should I?"

         "She was teaching in your school a couple of years."

         "Oh, yeah, sixth grade.  Miss Richards.  Had to remember to say Mrs Colby after Christmas vacation."

         "She taught you?  In sixth grade?"

         Then he remembered: sixth grade!  He had been in a lot of trouble all that year.

         "Well she had a little girl just about the time Joey was born.  I guess you wouldn't remember that, and it seems this is the girl Joey's taken a fancy to."

         "I sure hope Mrs Colby isn't going to judge Joey by me.  She probably thinks I'm a three time loser by now."

         "If she knows anybody around town I'm sure she knows that's not so."

         "Trina, my sixth grade teacher cannot have a very good opinion of me!"

         "I should hope she wouldn't judge you as an adult by what you acted like when you were eleven."

         "It keeps coming back to bite me."

         "No it doesn't, you've proved yourself in this town over and over again.  Nobody says anything bad about you now."

         "So if she lived in Carthage fifteen years ago, she knows ~~ "

         "Yes she knows. You have nothing to be ashamed of. "

         "No, but Joey ~~ "

         "He isn't ashamed either.  You told him the whole truth as far as you know it; you don't need to worry about him finding out something you didn't tell him."

         "What do I say to him about this?"

         "Wait for him to ask you."

         "He might not."

         "Then don't say anythng."

         "I'm not ready for this!"

         "With children nothing waits until you're ready."

         He already knew that.  He went upstairs and tapped on Joey's door.  Joey said, "Come."

         "Need any help with anything?" Jess asked.

         "Trina told you."

         "Yeah, well ~~ "

         "Oh it's okay she told you.  "She's smart about what to tell and not to tell."

         "So you really like this girl?"

         "Yeah.  Jess she's beautiful."

         Jess said, "Beautiful doesn't mean anything unless it's really a beautiful person who looks that way."

         "I kept running into her all day," Joey said.  "I think she was finding me some of the time."

         "Maybe she was."

         "Then she likes me too."

         "Probably she does."

         "I never had a girlfriend."

         "You don't have one now. You don't get to call somebody your girlfriend the first day you meet."

         "How long does it take?  How long did it take for Miss Nyla to get to be your girlfriend?"

         "A while.  Joey, you're only fifteen."

         "You were seventeen when you met Miss Nyla."

         "Seventeen is a lot older than fifteen.  Besides you see how that turned out.  Joey, believe me!  This is too soon in your life for this."

         "Her name is Dee Colby."

         "I know.  Her mother was my sixth grade teacher."          

         Joey thought that over.  "You were real bad in sixth grade!"

         "How would you know?  You weren't even born yet."

         "But I know what people say.  Eddie Neville told Matt about it and he told me."

         "I had a bad reputation.  I didn't deserve all of it.  That doesn't matter any more anyway unless Dee's mother thinks I'm still like that."

         "Well she'll soon find out you aren't"

         Joey knew in a town like Carthage there was very little that was kept a secret.  He knew whatever they might have said about Jesse back then they had only good things to say now.

         "Can I date her?" Joey asked.

         "I don't know; you're kind of young for dating. But I can tell you this, she's probably going to be coming to our church.  Her famiy went there when they lived here."

         "I want to get to know her better.  If I don't some other guy will."

         "Well that's the chance you take."

         "Can I sit with her in church?"

         "I don't think so.  Church isn't a date. Maybe you can go to Youth with her.  That would be up to her."

         "I can ask her."

         "So, Joey, you know we went all over this subject before.  I just didn't expect you to meet a girl for a couple of years yet.  You're going to like a lot of girls, just as much as you like this one."

         Joey was sure that wasn't true.  "You didn't."

         "I've had several girlfriends."

         Joey knew that.  Right then he was seeing Liz Walker.  "But you didn't like any of them the way you liked Miss Nyla, not even Miss Liz."

         Jess was trying to think what to say.  Joey probably thought he was in love.  Maybe he was.  In any case his fifteen year old body was telling him he was.  Jess knew all too well that this had a potential for Joey getting hurt. This was happening too fast!  He knew that people who are bringing up children often think things are happening too fast.  At the same time the children are thinking things are not happening fast enough. 

         Joey would probably like a lot of girls.  Jess hoped so;  possibly there was safety in numbers.  What kind of warning could he give him?  And would he even hear it?  Joey was still a child, living in what was beginning to be a man's body.

         One problem with that was he was almost fearless.  He was biting off big chunks of life without any doubt that he could handle anything that came along.  He was strong and independent and Jess wanted him that way.  And sooner or later in this world he was going to get smacked down a few times.  The most loving, protective governor in the world could not prevent that.

         So what could he say that he had not said already?  Long ago Treacher had told him, "Joey's going to grow up and start liking girls someday.  What will you want him to do?  What will you want him to know?"

         So he had told him everything he needed to know.  At least he hoped he had told him enough.  But now, long before he was ready to deal with it, 'someday' was here.  He had done everything he could possibly have done and now it was up to Joey.

         Still ~~ maybe there was something.  He knew the only thing that he could do worse than not enough would be too much.  He remembered fifteen.  He knew the most exquisite embarrassment Joey could feel would be that caused by Jess himself. 

         It was on Sunday morning that he met Mrs Colby for the first time in all those years.  She wouldn't know him of course.  Or would she?  It was within his province as an officer of the church to go over and greet a newcomer.  He introduced himself. 

         "I think we've met before," he added.

         She said she remembered that they had except of course he was a lot younger then.  He said, "I see your daughter has already met my boy Joey."

         Of course by now she had learned that the restive eleven year old she had known in her classroom had since matured into a respected citizen.  Looking up at him now she was seeing his sixth grade image superimposed.  "I'm glad to meet you again, Jesse. "

         So maybe she was not thinking he was still the scapegrace kid she remembered.  The bad thing about Carthage was there were no secrets.  But the good thing about Carthage was that there were no secrets.  She knew about Joey and Cecily, that was a given.  After all it hadn't been Joey who needed to redeem himself.  That was Jesse. He could reasonably believe that he had done so.

         There wasn't much time to talk then.  He went to join his class of Junior boys.  If Joey was going to like this little girl it was incumbent on Jesse to make a good impression on her mother.
         
         On the way home, Joey asked, "What did you say to Mrs Colby?"

         "Just greeted her.  Don't worry, I was polite."

         Joey said, "I'm going to Youth with Dee tonight."

         Jess could approve of that.. He was remembering a saying: 'Those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.'  He had learned from his own  history lesson but it looked like he was going to be repeating it anyway.


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