By then I was well on my way to becoming an integral part of the Bountiful High School social structure. To make myself and hopefully Susan also comfortable, I asked her out to a movie in Salt Lake. Noel and his girlfriend went with us and it was a disaster. It not for the already arranged prom date, we probably never would have dated again. Luckily the prom night was relatively a success. A few months of passing each other in the halls went by before Susan returned my favor by asking me to girls dance. From there, things got better and soon we became High School sweethearts.
I remember the first time I met Susan's father. I wanted to impress him as a young man who was worthy of his daughter's company. I went to shake his hand firmly and my clasp was halfway to his wrist before I realized his hand was missing a thumb. I'm sure he was impressed.
Together we joined a school-sponsored club that allowed us to attend every Utah Symphony concert. Susan joined the flag corps and we were able to be together at every school function and even on band trips. When we marched that first year, I was set in the front to follow the drum major so the others could line up to me, and Susan was in front of us all with a beautiful smile and legs to match. The following year I became band president and Susan was asked to organize the flag corps and serve as their leader. That was quite convenient because parents accept band meetings better than they do a regular date, and we would get together under that pretense.
Together we spent many hours trying to sell candy or light bulbs to earn money to travel on band trips. Together in my junior year we travel with the band to California and competed with some of the larger schools there. There were many long hours on the buses and many fun times as we would go in groups to try out our freedom in big towns like Las Vegas and Los Angeles. We visited Disneyland and I had the chance of introducing Susan to my uncle, Uncle Keene. He is a single and successful actor who starred on Broadway only to move to California as motion pictures and TV became the center of the theatrical activity. He was bald and often a mystery to us children who were lucky to see him once every few years when he would visit for Christmas. Not being able to see him made us love him even more. We brag to our friends and looked for him in movies and on TV. He was always interested in our development and send us very generous Christmas gifts even when he didn't come with them.
Susan was nervous to meet him and so was I, but he made us feel comfortable, showed us around Disneyland and took us to lunch at the Pirate's Cove. I still remember being impressed with how he knew exactly how to handle the waitress, even tipped the waitress using a credit card.
Susan and I survived that and other trips but our greatest goal and the culmination of our fall activity was to do well at the local Davis Cup competitions. It was held at the University of Utah and no matter what we tried we would finish second to Davis High School. I remember a fateful experience when I was buying Susan and I very overpriced hamburger between shows. Two of my enthusiastic trombone playing friends, Eric and Rick, thought they would raise my spirits by playing keep-away with the sack that contained our dinner. All they succeeded in raising was my anger and in my haste to retrieve those burgers I slipped and landed firmly on my wrist. Because I was upset by their game I didn't feel much until after finishing our competition. When I was taken for X-rays I had broken a small bone in my left... Next Page
No comments:
Post a Comment