Leona had always wanted to do something special with her life, but now it appeared that opportunity had been taken away from her, just as her mother had been. Since Lillian was living in Bangor, and Arlene and Murdock were working long hours, she had no one to keep her company during the day. Even 11-year-old Wally was nowhere to be found during the summer. He was either hanging out with his friends or spending time fishing on the banks of the Kenduskeag where he could be alone with his thoughts. Thus, Leona had only a few options to keep her mind occupied in the months after her mother’s death, and she treasured the ones she had.
After finishing her morning chores, Leona would have lunch with her father before he had to go back to work. Then, in the afternoon she was free to visit with her old friend Charlie Berry. They often played Cribbage and talked about everything under the Sun, but more times than not they enjoyed talking about the things going around it.
Charlie felt terrible about Leona’s situation and one day, while she was visiting, he said so.
“It’s too bad things haven’t worked out better for you, Leona. I know you can’t continue your studies right now, but I hope you don’t give up on your dream.”
“Thanks, Charlie, but that’s life. Papa always said that ‘sometimes life isn’t fair.’ Sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t.”
“You’re wise beyond years, Leona. But like I said: hang in there and don’t give up hope. Many people have to drop out of high school and go back at a later date; and just as many end up going to college when they’re much older. I’ve had students who were in their 30s and 40s; and believe it or not I even had one student in her 60s, so never give up on your dream, Leona. Maybe something good will happen and you’ll be able to go to college after all.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But it’s not likely. There’s one good thing about my situation though.”
“What’s that?” Charlie asked.
“I get to spend more time here at your cabin with you, listening to your tall tales. It’s almost as entertaining as it was listening to my Mama and Grandma spin their yarns. If you learn to stretch the truth just a little bit more, it will be.”
Charlie laughed and said: “I’ll work on it.”
—1—
When Leona couldn’t visit Charlie, the teenager spent hour-upon-hour at the Bangor Opera House, losing herself in the fantasy worlds that its movies offered. She pretended that it was her up there on the big screen dancing with the leading man. She particularly liked it when in 1927 The Jazz Singer was released and she could actually hear the actors talking and singing. She enjoyed it so much that she really looked forward to catching the trolley to Bangor, just to take in a matinee on days that ticket prices were reduced. However, evening movies were totally out of the question, not just because of the higher prices, but because Leona preferred to spend nights with her father; though on occasion she would go to a dance while her father stayed home with Wally.
It was at one of those dances in early 1930 where Leona, now nearly twenty, bumped into Daniel O’Leary, the young man she once dated in high school. It was not long after she and Ann arrived at the Kenduskeag Dance Hall, one chilly night in mid-April, that Leona noticed her former boyfriend chatting amiably with a very pretty girl. Soon thereafter she saw the two of them dancing, and whispered in Ann’s ear.
“He’s even cuter than I remember.”
“Why don’t you cut in?” she suggested.
“No, that would be impolite. It looks as if they really like each other and I wouldn’t want to come between them.”
Leona watched her former boyfriend closely and soon realized that he was the best dancer there. After the music stopped, Dan looked around the dancehall and saw Leona.
“Hi, Dan,” Leona said as he walked toward her.
“Hi, Leona. Wow! You sure look great.”
“Thanks,” she answered.
With maturity Leona’s baby fat had long since disappeared and her womanly features had taken root. In fact, she was now a very beautiful young woman thanks in part to features inherited from her native-American ancestors. She had a statuesque nose, a long thin face, and, thanks to working in the family garden, moderately dark skin indigenous to native Americans, something that had somehow bypassed Margaret.
“I’ve been watching you dance, Dan, and I see you’ve taken lessons since I last saw you,” Leona said. “You dance real good now.”
“Gee, thanks. Would you like to dance with me?”
“What about your girlfriend?” she asked.
“Oh, she’s not my girl,” he replied. “I don’t even know her. She just asked me to have a dance with her. Actually, I came to the dance alone.”
“Then I’d be happy to dance with you,” Leona said, knowing that she was more than just happy.
She couldn’t help but see the smile on Ann’s face as Dan led her to the dance floor. Leona quickly found out just how much better Dan’s dancing had gotten and how much he liked to dance; and he learned the same about her.
“Wow, Leona! You can really jitterbug,” Dan said. “I’ve never danced with anyone who could do the Charleston the way you can.”
“Thanks, Dan. You’re not so bad yourself.”
“We make a good couple,” he said. “You know, there’s going to be a dance contest at nine. Will you be my partner?”
“I’d love to. What do we get if we win?”
“The prize is five dollars.”
“That much!” Leona exclaimed.
When nine o’clock came the two were one of eleven couples that took the floor. Every minute or so the disk jockey would tap the least talented couple on the shoulder to indicate that it was time for them to sit down, leaving the remaining couples in the competition. After ten minutes had passed, Leona and Dan were still on the floor, and there were only three couples remaining.
“Come on, Leona, you can do it,” Ann called out, seeing that she and Dan were still going strong.
It wasn’t too long thereafter that both Leona and Dan were showing signs of fatigue from well over ten minutes of strenuous dancing. Ann worried as the DJ made his way onto the floor to eliminate one more couple. After he did, Ann’s best friend and her former boyfriend were still dancing away. Now there were only two couples left and it was obvious that Leona and Dan were the crowd favorites. Seeing that, the DJ made one last trip to the floor and selected them as winners of the fifteen-minute dance contest.
“Here’s your five dollars,” he said. “You two certainly earned it. Now let’s give them a nice hand.” he said.
“I told you you could do it,” Ann yelled as the exhausted couple made their way back toward her to the sound of raucous applause. Leona and Dan sat in the corner of the dancehall and returned the favor by watching Ann dance, after eagerly accepting an offer from a boy she had been eyeing that evening.
“I didn’t see you at Bangor High after your freshman year, Leona,” Dan said. “Someone told me you moved away.”
“Oh, I wondered why you never came out to see me. I assumed you found someone else. Anyway, my Mom got sick and I had to take care of her. That’s why I never went back to high school.”
“Oh, that’s too bad, Leona; how is your mother now?”
“She passed away a few months after I dropped out of school.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. How are you handling it?”
“I’m fine now,” Leona answered.
“What have you been doing since your mother’s death?” Dan asked.
“I’ve been taking care of Papa and Wally.”
“How old is your brother now?”
“He’s fifteen.”
“What are your sisters doing?”
“Arlene’s working in Bangor as a secretary. Lillian is married and has two boys. She lives on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor, just around the corner from our old home on Palm Street. So, what have you been up to, Dan?”
“Not much,” he replied. “I went into the Army for a couple of years after high school and now I’m a freshman at the University of Maine.”
“That’s great. What are you majoring in?”
“Business.”
“Sounds interesting,” Leona said politely, while thinking that it sounded really boring to her.
“It’s not. But everybody’s got to do something. And business was the only thing I could think of. I want to run my father’s company one day.”
“I’ve been to this dance a lot, Dan,” Leona said, “and I haven’t seen you here before.”
“I know. This is my first time. I usually go to the dances in Bangor and Brewer, but for some reason I decided to come here tonight; and now I’m glad I did.”
Leona smiled. That night was the start of a renewed friendship between her and Dan. Indeed, it wasn’t long before they became romantically involved. They dated regularly, going to the movies and dances together. Dan shared Leona’s fondness for outdoor activities as well and the two often went on picnics together. Usually they walked to the stream, to the spot where Jill taught Leona how to swim. Leona always packed the basket to the brim with food and drinks for Dan. After lunch they fished or swam in the warm water, occasionally going skinny-dipping. The two lovers would frolic in that scenic, yet isolated paradise, at times staying there nearly all afternoon long and occasionally into the night, especially when there was a full moon to illuminate the river and its bank.
Finally, in Leona’s mind she had found the right one. And so, she assumed, had Dan, because they often talked of marriage and of raising a family. Leona was so deliriously happy that one day she couldn’t keep her true feeling for Dan hidden any longer. She wasn’t ready to tell her family yet, but she had to talk to someone, and Ann, being her closest friend, was the first choice. While the rest of her family was away for the day, Leona invited Ann over for a visit.
“I have something to tell you. Can you come over?” she asked her friend on the Haleys’ new phone.
—2—
“Hi, Ann,” she said when her friend walked through the door.
Leona was baking cookies in the kitchen, and after checking on them, she and Ann went into the living room to talk.
“I wanted to talk to you about Dan,” Leona said.
“How are you and Dan doing?” Ann asked. “Are you still hot for each other?”
“Ann! Don’t be so crude,” Leona replied, acting outraged.
“Well, are you?” her friend asked.
“You might say that,” Leona replied. “We’re thinking of getting married next summer.”
“Wow! That’s great!” Ann said.
“You don’t think it’s too fast?” Leona asked.
“Hell no! Steve Harris asked me to marry him a week ago, and I said yes,” Ann said excitedly, while holding out her left hand to display a small engagement ring.
“I don’t believe it; we’re both gonna get married. Maybe we can have a dual ceremony,” Leona suggested.
“That would be the cat’s meow,” Ann replied; then she got serious. “Have you done it yet?”
“No!” Leona said emphatically.
“What are you waiting for? Steve and I did it over two months ago.”
“Well, we’re not you and Steve. Dan and I want to wait until after we get married. We don’t want to take a chance that I might become pregnant.”
“But you can do it without getting pregnant, silly,” Ann said.
“I know, but if we start doing it now, sooner or later we might lose control and not be so careful. And, with my luck, I’d end up with child. We don’t want to have kids for at least three more years. Dan wants to finish college first. He doesn’t think he can go to college and be a good father at the same time; and I want to wait a while longer too. As much as I like them, twenty is too young to be tied down with kids; ask Lillian about that. Besides, you know how people are. If I got pregnant before being married, that would be the talk of the town.”
—3—
Leona and Dan were together constantly after the University let out in May; and on one extremely hot and humid day in late June the two walked down to their favorite swimming hole again, picnic basket in hand. It was Dan’s birthday and Leona had fixed him a special picnic lunch. They spread their picnic blanket under a tall oak tree next to the riverbank. Dan brought white wine, cheese and crackers to top off the day’s celebration. He placed the bottle of wine in the Kenduskeag Stream to keep it cool.
When they finished their mid-afternoon lunch, the young lovers seemed to talk forever while enjoying the wine and cheese. It was nearly six o’clock when Dan suggested going skinny-dipping. After looking around to make sure no one was there, Leona agreed. As they frolicked in the calm, shallow water, Dan was becoming increasingly bolder toward Leona. At first she resisted his charms, but eventually the wine she had tasted earlier began to take control of her thinking. Although neither one would have done so if the wine had not aroused their sexuality and clouded their judgment, they began to make love. Soon, Leona felt as if she was in heaven, and, in her mind, she had found the right one.
It was after 7:00 when the lovers decided to call it a day and head for home. For the next month, Leona was on pins and needles thinking about what happened, and from then on she was determined to be really cautious in her relationship with Dan.
“As I said before,” Leona told Ann, “having a baby now is the last thing I need.”