Charlie paused just long enough to wink at me before he turned to face her. He hooked his hands into his belt loops and leaned against the Mustang. He took his time, looking her up and down before drawling, “Well, hi there.” 

She put her hands on her hips. “Are you planning to move your car?”

“When I’m finished what I came for.”

“Which is?”

“Well, I thought maybe you and a couple of your friends might like to go for a drive tomorrow afternoon. I’m new here and I haven’t seen much of the countryside yet. Maybe you could show me around?”

“Why should I?”

“Why shouldn’t you?”

“I don’t know if I want to.”

“I can only take three passengers. One of my old man’s rules is one to a seatbelt.”

“That’s only four.”

“You forgot my buddy Glen here.”

She stared into the window. “You mean Glen Sauten?”

“That’s right.”

“If you say so.”

“Any complaints?”

“No. He just doesn’t seem your type.”

“How about you?”

“He’s not my type, either.”

Charlie laughed. “You know that isn’t what I meant.”

She crossed her arms and looked at him closely. “Maybe. What time tomorrow?”

“Two o’clock.”

“You want three of us?”

“The more the merrier.”

“Well, I’ll see. Where will we meet you?”

“How about if you come to my place at two? You know where Glen lives? Well, I’m just across the street. And, by the way, my name’s Charles Thornton. You can call me Charlie.”

“Marta Billings.”

“See you tomorrow, Marta.”

Charlie got back in the car and in a moment we were on our way home. 

“Say, you didn’t have any plans for tomorrow, did you, Glen?”

“Naw. I quit work Wednesday so I could goof off a couple of days.”

“Yeah? Where’d you work?”

“Grocery store. Filling shelves and carrying stuff. And deliveries.”

“All summer?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you need some relaxation then. We’ll meet the girls at my place. Go for a drive. Take in the dance at night. These dances any good?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Many girls come alone?”

“Some.”

“So we’ll go stag. Might find something interesting.”

We pulled into the garage and got out of the car. I said goodnight and started for home.

“Hey!”

I turned.

“I plan to work on the car in the morning. Come on over if you aren’t busy.”

“Sure.” I waved, then headed for home.

The key was in its usual place in the mailbox. I’d tried carrying one, but after I’d lost three, Mom decided to do it this way.

It was dark inside, and quiet. But as I went past Mom and Dad’s room, a soft whisper came to me. “Glen, is that you?”

“Yeah, Mom.”

“Did you and Charlie have a nice time?”

“Sure.”

“That’s good. See you in the morning.”

“Yeah. Night, Mom.”

I went into my room and got ready for bed. It had certainly been an interesting evening. And tomorrow we were going out with three girls. Up to now, my life had been fairly dull and ordinary—but happy in a quiet way. I had a vague feeling that having Charlie here was going to change my life. Whether for better or worse I just didn’t know.

Mom woke me the next morning. She had a list of about ten things I could do around the house to help her with the fall cleaning. My sister and her husband and their two little kids were coming in the afternoon and staying till Monday, so all the work had to be done by noon.

It was twelve when we stopped for lunch, so I didn’t get near Charlie and his car. I had looked over once and he was busy washing it.

Janice and Ron and the kids arrived just after one. The kids are cute. The older one is three and the little one is just beginning to walk. I don’t mind looking after them so long as I don’t have to change any diapers. 

Ron and I had them in the back yard when Mom came to tell me that Charlie was out front with a car full of girls. Ron started making cracks, but I grinned at him and took off. To tell the truth, I’d have rather played with the little kids, but having told Charlie I’d go with him, I thought I’d better go.

Marta was sitting with Charlie in the front seat. Dianne and Sharon were in the back. They’d left room for me on the right side. 

The three girls kept up a continual flow of talk with Charlie, so I was free to sit back and enjoy the ride—which I did. I like seeing all the fields and the farms and the ponds and groves of trees. 

We’d been driving about half an hour when Marta said something I didn’t hear that got Charlie laughing. It must have been about the car because he suddenly gunned the motor and showed us what the engine could really do.

Dianne and Sharon started screaming, but Marta was laughing and urging him to go even faster. 

The road we were on wasn’t that great—a two-lane gravel road. If there happened to be a car ahead of us, we would have to pass, and if there were any cars coming toward us at that moment, well, that would be too bad for us and them, too. And being a country road, there was apt to be a tractor or a slow-moving farm truck on the road. 

“Charlie,” I yelled. “Slow down!”

He immediately dropped down to just a little above the  speed limit. “Just showing Marta what this baby can do,” he said apologetically. 

“Yeah,” I said. “Well, this isn’t the best road to do that on.”

“Scaredy-cats,” said Marta, her eyes dancing.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” said Dianne. “Now.” She giggled. 

Sharon giggled, too. “That’ll teach you to drive so fast.”

Marta and Charlie started laughing. 

I stared out the window.

It was about fifteen minutes before we found a small village with an old grocery store and a dirty-looking garage that had a small cafe at one end. We went in and the girls took turns going to the tiny one-stall bathroom. We bought drinks and surprisingly good doughnuts, and took them outside where there was a single well-weathered picnic table. We sat around and talked and laughed. Okay, they talked and laughed; I listened.

When the food was gone, we piled back into the car and drove around some more. Charlie kept pretty much to the speed limit; the girls talked to each other and him; I was able to relax and enjoy the scenery. 

All in all, it wasn’t a bad way to kill an afternoon. Charlie and the girls were kind of entertaining, the food was okay, the car was great, and I always like being in the country. Dad says the stork goofed and I should have been delivered to a farmer instead of a bank manager.

We got back to town just after five. I said I’d go with Charlie to the dance, and he said he’d pick me up around nine—no sense being early.

For once, I was on time for dinner. It was another good one—roast pork with baked apples and baked potatoes and green beans, topped off with Mom’s lemon pudding. Ron kidded her by saying next time he and Janice had a fight, he was going to run home, except he’d run to his mother-in-law instead of his mother. Then he had to tell Janice she was almost as good a cook. So what with joking and eating and doing dishes and looking after the little kids and just plain having a good time, I forgot all about Charlie and the dance until he knocked at the door. 

Dad answered and asked Charlie in. He had on a pair of good black pants and a pink shirt with a white sweater. Mom took one look at my blue-jeans and hustled me off to the bedroom. Between her and Janice, they found my best pair of khaki pants and a blue shirt made of some shiny material—don’t ask me how I got it—and made me change.

When I got back, Charlie was talking to Dad and Ron, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. But Charlie jumped up when he saw me.

We were half way to the car when Mom called me back to give me a sweater. Where she’d found it, I don’t know. I think it’s one my grandmother gave me last Christmas. At least, I remember she gave me a sweater, because I’d been hoping for some CDs.

 As far as dances go, I guess it wasn’t half bad. There were a lot of kids there, having one last bit of fun before school started. Personally, I’ve never been much on dancing. Maybe it’s good exercise, but I’d as soon jog. So any time I go to a dance, I find a few other guys who think like me, and we have a good time telling jokes and talking about cars and sports and just watching everybody else jump around as though a bunch of fleas had been let loose on them.

This time wasn’t much different. Charlie got me to dance once with some girl—I think it was Mary Lou—so he could ask the girl she was with—Peggy. But after that I figured he could manage by himself, so I left him to it. Every so often he came over to ask me about someone, or I saw him on the floor and he waved. He seemed to be having a good time dancing with every girl in the place. 

Two of the people he asked me about were Phil and Lisa. Okay, he was more interested in Lisa. I looked at her, trying to be objective. She’s about five foot seven and very athletic. Not skinny like some girls, but with curves in all the right places. She’s done a lot of gymnastics, and makes a great head cheerleader, but she also does track and swims. She has short, straight black hair, cut in what I think is called a pixie look. She isn’t what you’d call beautiful, but you do look at her when she’s around. She knows how to use makeup and dress, and she always seems to act a few years older than she actually is. Anyway, Charlie was interested.

“Nope,” I said. “She’s one girl you should forget about. She and Phil are going together. Phil wouldn’t like it if you tried to cut in.”

“So who’s this Phil?”

“Well,” I said. “He’s sort of my best friend. I expect you and he will be friends, too. He’s good at sports, and he’s got a car he looks after like it was a baby, and—well, he’s a nice guy.” 

We both looked over where he was dancing a slow one with Lisa. You had to admit that they made a good pair. Phil’s about six feet, with a very muscular build from working out with weights a lot and playing several sports. His hair is as dark as Lisa’s, but very curly. He wears it in sort of a 50s look, with sideburns. His skin is dark, like he always has a tan. He usually wears jeans and a black leather jacket, so I guess some people would say he looks like a motorcycle gang member. But a very good-looking one. 

He’s probably the most popular guy in town, and Lisa’s the most popular girl, so it’s sort of right they should be going together now.

“So you wouldn’t like it if I stole his girl, huh?” Charlie said.

I started to say, “as if you could,” but held back. So far as I knew, Phil had never had trouble getting or keeping girls. But then, he’d never had to go up against Charlie. 

Anyway, for now Charlie seemed content to dance with every other girl who was there, including Sheila, Ann, and Marta, each of whom seemed to want him to spend more time with her and less with the others. I saw more than a few dirty looks aimed at the backs of other girls.

I managed to introduce Charlie to Phil and Lisa, but other than that I didn’t get a chance to talk to Phil. He and Lisa were never more than arm’s length from each other. 

All in all, I had a reasonable time talking to Mac and Brett and some other guys, so I guess we were all satisfied.

I thought Charlie might want to take a girl home, but he didn’t. We gave Mac and Brett a lift, then were home ourselves by one o’clock. 

Charlie asked me what we could do the next day. 

All I could think of was a game of golf, but Charlie said that wasn’t much fun. We settled on tossing a football around in the afternoon since Charlie thought he’d sleep in.
 

 Ron and Dad woke me at seven in the morning to go golfing. That was fine with me. Golf is one of the few games I can almost hold my own in. We had a quick breakfast and then managed eighteen holes before lunch.

Mom had barbecued a chicken, so we ate out in the back yard and had a real good time. When Charlie came, Ron said he’d like to toss the football with us for a while, so we went to the street and took turns punting and catching. Charlie was good. He said he’d been a quarterback the year before, and since I knew our top quarterback had graduated, there was definitely room for him to make the team.

After we’d worked up a sweat, Charlie and I went to the The Peabody Diner for drinks, but there wasn’t much action. He wanted to drive around and find some girls in the evening, but I said I thought I should stay home because Ron and Janice were there. He seemed disappointed, and I asked him to come over because we’d likely play some games, but he said no thanks; he’d drive around by himself. 

So we separated, and I didn’t see him again until the next afternoon.

It was Labor Day, and the stores were closed. Janice and Ron left right after lunch, and Mom suggested I should walk over and see if Charlie wanted to toss the football for a while.

I knocked on the door and after a few minutes Charlie answered. He said he’d been listening to music and asked me in. He had a complete home theater right in his room, with all the latest equipment—plus a huge music and movie collection. He also had more clothes than I’d know what to do with, a whole wall covered with trophies and ribbons, and another wall covered with pictures of girls. 

We listened to music for a while, and then the phone in his room rang. It was Phil. He’d called my place and Mom had told him where I was. He and some kids had decided to have one last fling at a small lake about half an hour away. They were going to drive up for a wiener roast, then swim or play baseball. 

Charlie wanted to go, so I told Phil we’d be there. Since we had Charlie’s car, we offered to drive some other people and Phil said he’d call back and let us know.

Charlie found his bathing suit and towel and his baseball glove, and then we went out to the kitchen to see if there was anything we could take along. His folks were out, but he found a couple of bags of salt and vinegar chips and some pretzels. Then, since we had a couple of hours to wait, he told me to go get my stuff and we could play catch for a while. We left his door open in case the phone rang, and then went outside.

Phil did call back, so at five-thirty we loaded ourselves in the car and went to pick up Brett and Mac.

When we got to the lake, Phil and Lisa were building a fire, so we all pitched in and soon had a good one blazing. The girls unpacked the food and Phil opened the drinks. All in all, there were about twenty-five or thirty kids there—mostly from the senior classes, with a sprinkling of younger kids and a few who were out of school.

I found Charlie helping Sheila put a frankfurter on a stick. Ann was waiting. 

Marta came up with her stick. “You’ll have to help me, too,” she said. “I can never get them on right. They always fall into the fire.”

Charlie laughed. “You’ll have to get in line.”

Marta’s lower lip broke into a pout. 

Charlie laughed again, but after he got Ann’s stick ready, he put an arm around Marta and helped her. 

“Now how do I keep it from falling off?” she asked. 

“I guess I’ll just have to help you.”

“I need help, too.” Sheila almost stuck her stick into Marta’s face.

“Be careful!” Charlie said. “I’ll help both of you.”

“And me.” Ann wasn’t going to be left out. 

I shook my head and wandered over to Mac and Brett. If Charlie wanted to spend his time with those idiot girls, that was his business. But ten minutes in their company made me feel sick to my stomach.

We ate until we were stuffed, and then just sat around for a while. A couple of the guys think they’re comedians, so they entertained us. Charlie got in the act, and he had some funny stories, too. 

A few kids went swimming, including Phil and Lisa, who did a few laps together and pretty well ignored everyone else. 

The water was cold, so most of the girls didn’t go in past their knees. But they got a lot of exercise yelling and squealing and running in and out. 

Personally, I’m not much for swimming. I’d as soon lay on an inner tube and just float around. But Charlie is the real thing. He was diving off the raft and really enjoying himself. Of course, any of the girls who hadn’t yet met him couldn’t help getting interested. He’s just that kind of guy.

Later, we got two ball teams organized and had a pretty good time. As usual, I got stuck out in right field, but I don’t mind. I can just enjoy the fresh air and the breeze—like I said, I should have been born on a farm. Charlie, though—he started out on second base and ended up pitching after the other team had scored eight runs in two innings.

After that, we won. They got four more runs, mostly because Charlie pitched real easy to the girls, but we got fourteen—with Charlie being involved in a good many of them.

Phil and Lisa were on the other team, Phil at shortstop and Lisa at third. 

Neither of them likes losing, and I heard them arguing  about a missed ball and a bad swing. I also saw Phil give Charlie a look that said, “I’ll remember you.”

After the game, we went back to the fire and roasted some more marshmallows and finished off the drinks, and by the time we’d packed up it was after ten. 

A few kids wanted to stay longer, but we still had a half hour drive home and tomorrow was the first day of school, so most of us thought we’d better head back.

Several girls looked longingly at Charlie’s car, but Mac and Brett and I got in and we had a good drive back, telling jokes and talking about the evening and laughing. We didn’t drive too fast, so it was eleven by the time Charlie and I pulled into his drive. I said I’d pick him up for school in the morning.  When I got home, I got a short lecture about being in bed by ten-thirty on school nights. Mom wasn’t really mad—just keeping in practice.

I called for Charlie at twenty-five to nine. Mom had dragged me out of bed and seen that I was on time. He was ready, so we left. He wondered about taking his car, but I said it wasn’t worth it today, and anyway, we only lived a few blocks from the school. So we walked. 

He wanted to know about the teachers, and I told him about the ones we’d had before. I thought there were a couple of new ones this year, so I didn’t know about them. 

Then he wanted to know about girls—were there any he hadn’t met yet? I really couldn’t think of any. Well, just a couple who I didn’t think he’d be interested in—one dumpy girl who never takes part in anything, and Joyce Burgess, who wears glasses and is kind of chubby and sort of plain. Girls seem to like her, but I’ve never noticed any guys that were at all interested.

And then I remembered her. Why I hadn’t before, I don’t know. She’s everything Charlie could want, and no doubt she’d like him, too. At least, she might. With her, you never can tell.

Charlie noticed that I’d stopped talking. “What are you thinking about? Remember somebody?”

I didn’t know whether to tell him or wait until he spotted her himself. I decided to wait. “Nothing special. If I’ve missed anyone, you’ll soon find out.”