June arrived, and I was busy with getting ready for final exams, the last burst of tutoring for the kids I was working with, and preparing for graduation. Still, I managed to worry about what college to go to and what was happening with Lenny. I came up with no answers. I had no control over what Lenny would decide, and as for college, I could only ask for guidance from somewhere that would help me make the right decision.
One decision I did make was to join Roz in New Hampshire for the summer. Both Nat and Cesca had gotten office jobs in the city, and without them Holiday Camp wouldn’t be nearly as much fun. I went for the interview with the owners of the Grandview Hotel, and was hired on the spot.
My parents were happy about this, but it didn’t stop them from pressuring me to go away to school. I managed to put them off by telling them that while Buffalo was out, I would agree to go look at the campus at Binghamton as soon as my finals were over.
In the meantime, the letters I received from Lenny were at least a bit more positive. His stomach was feeling better; he had started to put some weight back on, and while he knew this school was not for him, he was sticking with it until he could arrange a transfer to a better one.
The day I arrived home from my last final exam, I found a letter in a college envelope addressed to me on the kitchen table. My mother was sitting right next to it, cutting up fresh vegetables for dinner the way she usually did. I could tell by the look on her face that she was absolutely dying to know what was in that letter.
“It’s from Barnard,” she said excitedly.
“I can see that,” I said, picking it up and reading the return address. “I wonder what they want.”
“Well, you’re not going to find out until you open it!”
I ripped open the envelope. What the letter said was totally unexpected. “Congratulations at being accepted to Barnard ...” it began. It went on to state that my name had been moved from the waiting list to the accepted list. I had also been granted financial aid, which would be explained further in the accompanying statement.
“Ma! I can’t believe it!” I exclaimed. “After all this time I’ve actually been accepted to Barnard! And not only that, they’re offering me financial aid!”
“That’s wonderful, Linda! Barnard is the best school of all those you’ve applied to. It’s almost worth having you stay in the city to be able to go there.”
“Almost? This is perfect, Ma! I wanted to be in the city all along, anyhow. The only trouble is that Barnard is so expensive. Can we afford it, even with the financial aid they’re offering?” I looked at the confusing columns of numbers listed on the accompanying document. “It looks as if this is still going to cost more than going to a state college would.”
“That doesn’t matter. If it’s at all possible for you to attend a school like Barnard, your father and I will make every effort to send you there. Wait until he comes home from work. We’ll go over the paperwork together and see what we can come up with.”
* * *
There was great excitement in my house that night. As I had hoped, my father was so happy about my making a prestigious college like Barnard, he forgot about how he had been pressuring me to go to an out-of-town school.
“It looks to me as if this financial aid package is pretty decent,” he said after carefully scrutinizing the paperwork. “You can always get a part-time job during the school year. With the savings you have in the bank and the extra money you should be earning this summer, I’m sure we’ll be able to make it!”
“Then I can go, Daddy?” I asked excitedly.
“I believe so,” he said slowly. My father almost never got excited over anything!
You could tell he was proud of my acceptance, though, as we talked about how Barnard students could take courses offered by Columbia University. I was so engrossed in my conversation with my parents that I completely forgot that Lenny was supposed to call me that night until the phone started ringing. I ran to answer it.
“Oh, Lenny! I’ve got great news!” I laughed into the phone. “Just when my parents were putting enormous pressure on me to decide on either Buffalo or Binghamton, I got this letter from Barnard. They took me off the waiting list. I’m accepted! And they gave me enough financial aid so I’m going to be able to go!”
“That’s great, Linda,” he said. “This way you’ll wind up getting the best education possible, plus we can see each other whenever I get leave.”
“Speaking of leave, is there any chance you might get one before I go to the country?”
“It doesn’t look that way. I’m supposed to be spending my weekends trying to improve on my typing. They’re not going to grant me any leave as long as I’m so far behind. I might not be able to get home until school is over in October.”
“Not till October!” The thought robbed me of all feelings of joy. “Oh, Lenny, that would be awful! Every day is pure torture without you.”
“For me, too, baby. But don’t sound so unhappy. I haven’t investigated all avenues yet, If there’s a way to get to see you, I’ll find it.”
* * *
I got through final exams even though I was worried the whole time about Lenny. It was over a week since his phone call, and I hadn’t heard a thing from him. It was not like him to go that long without contacting me, especially since my birthday and graduation were both coming up.
Then, on Saturday morning, while I was in my room, hemming the new dress I had gotten for my graduation ceremony, I heard a familiar whistling outside my window. Tossing the dress aside, I ran to the window and leaned out. There he stood in the street, looking up at me the way he had so many times before. He was dressed in civilian clothes and had a wonderful grin on his face.
“Lenny!” I had to rub my eyes to make sure it wasn’t some apparition. “What—how—why are you here?”
“Why don’t you come downstairs and I’ll tell you?” he said, laughing.
I raced downstairs and into his waiting arms. How wonderful it was to feel them around me once again, to feel his lips press against mine with an eagerness that made my heart soar.
We went to sit on the Haven Avenue wall overlooking the Hudson River, where we had had so many important conversations in the past. My heart pounded as I waited for Lenny to tell me how he had managed to get here. I was so afraid that he might have done something crazy, like quit school or leave without permission.
He took a deep breath before he began. “After I last called you, Linda, I knew I had to see you. I went to the head of the school and told him that I had to get home to see my girlfriend before she left for the country. I told him it was a special occasion—not only your birthday, but your graduation, too.”
“No, it wasn’t that simple. This guy is a hard-nosed, long-term military man, with a dried-up prune for a heart. He laughed right in my face, at first. But I didn’t give up. I kept on talking to him, telling him about how much I had to offer the navy under the right circumstances, until I was able to convince him to strike a deal with me.”
“A deal? What kind of deal?”
“He gave me one last chance—one week to learn to type and catch up with the class. If I could do it, he would see that I got issued a four-day pass over the weekend. If I couldn’t, I would be booted out of communication technician’s school with no chance to attend any other. That’s why I haven’t called you or written to you—I needed every moment I had to work on school.”
“So you did it?” I asked hesitantly.
“Of course I did it!” He laughed and held me to him. “Have some faith in me, Linda. This was a big gamble, but I can do anything when I put my mind to it. I got my leave, and I got something else as well.”
“What?” I asked the question even though I was already so happy that nothing else mattered.
“My high school diploma! Right before I left Florida, I received word that I passed the equivalency test. So, when you walk down the aisle to get your diploma Monday evening, you’ll be doing it for both of us!”
* * *
Graduation. I could hardly believe it. All these years I had been going to school, working toward this goal. How proud I was to hear my name called. Linda Berman, graduated with honors. How good it was to see the look on my parents’ faces, as they reached out to give me hugs of congratulations.
Happily, I hugged them both, and then I turned to Lenny. I was so glad to have him with me this night, especially since, in a way, this was his graduation, too. He opened his arms, and I rushed into them. I held him tightly, my happiness at being together with him at this moment tinged with sadness at the thought that tomorrow he would be heading back to the navy, and it would probably be months before I would see him again.
I put these thoughts from my mind. If Lenny had found a way to come to my graduation, I had faith that he would find some way to be with me again before too long. As long as we loved each other, we would somehow manage to get through whatever it was that life gave to us. What the two of us had together was something special, and I knew it. If only my parents would come to accept this, it would make things so much easier for me.
Suddenly, as if he had been reading my mind, my father turned to me and said, “This is such a special occasion, Linda, that I think we should celebrate. Why don’t we all go out for dinner to a restaurant? Lenny is invited, too.”
I could hardly believe it. My parents almost never went out to dinner, and now they were actually inviting Lenny! Maybe it didn’t seem like a monumental occurrence, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.
“Why, thank you, Mr. Berman.” Lenny actually went and shook my father’s hand. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Maybe someday, in the not so distant future, there might actually be hope for east and west to get together after all.
If you want to find out what happens
to Linda in the future, be sure to read
Summer After