Very soon after Ander Swensen had seen Beatrice Olsen at Ingrid’s wedding, he began asking her out. Ander realized that at age thirty-two he was a little older than most of her other boyfriends, and she might be uncomfortable about it. So he always made it a point to include her friend Elner in all of his invitations. And that suited Elner just fine. That summer she got to go for a lot of rides in Ander’s new car, eat in several fancy restaurants, and see a lot of good movies. The three friends had a lot of fun together that summer. As it turned out, Ander could be as silly as Elner. One time he picked them up wearing a blond curly wig. Another time he drove them all the way to Springfield and back with the top down.

On the afternoon of August the twelfth, at Beatrice’s big eighteenth birthday party in the town park, people were squealing with laughter, watching all the ladies and young girls running in the “egg in spoon” footrace. The object was to see who could reach the finish line without dropping the egg. And as usual, Elner won. She ran in her bare feet, holding up her dress with one hand and the spoon and egg with the other. For a big girl, she could move fast.

Later Ander and Beatrice entered the sack race together but two eight-year-olds beat them by more than five feet. Ander supplied all the food and the ice cream for the party, and as a special treat, had brought in a barbershop quartet from Joplin to serenade the birthday girl. After the birthday cake was cut, Beatrice opened all her presents. Ander had given her a nice ladies’ leather traveling case she had admired in Springfield. And even though it wasn’t her birthday, Elner got one too. After the party was over, Ander quietly handed Beatrice a small white box, and said, “Don’t open it until you get home, all right?”

Elner was staying in town with Beatrice that night, and after they got back to Beatrice’s room Beatrice sat down on her bed and shook Ander’s present. “I wonder what it is?”

“Well, open it up, Silly.”

When she did, to her surprise, inside was a large diamond engagement ring, with a note that read “I adore you. Will you marry me?”

“Elner, look! Ander wants to marry me. Oh no. I knew he liked me, but I didn’t realize…I mean I like him a lot…but…what am I going to do?”

“Well, you could marry him.”

“But, Elner, he has that red hair and all those freckles. What if I had children with freckles all over them?”

“I wouldn’t let freckles stop me. I had a speckled hen once, and she was my favorite. But you know me. I like Ander.”

Beatrice smiled and nodded. “He is awful cute…isn’t he?”

“Cute as a bug in a rug.”

“I sure would hate for some other girl to get him. I don’t think I want to say no, but I’m not ready to say yes. I want to go to college.”

“Then maybe you can just tell him that. But in the meantime, I’d hang on to the ring.”

“Oh, I couldn’t,” said Beatrice. “It wouldn’t be right.”

“Well, he won’t take it back. I know that.”

“How do you know?”

Elner looked up to the ceiling. “A little red birdie told me.”

“Oh, you devil, you knew about this all along, didn’t you?” Beatrice said, hitting Elner with a pillow.

Elner laughed and covered her head. “I’m not saying I did, and I’m not saying I didn’t.” But she had known. She had helped Ander pick out the ring.

Beatrice took Elner’s advice and told Ander the truth—that she really wasn’t ready to commit to anybody yet. She asked how long he was willing to wait for an answer.

Ander thought about it for a moment, then said, “Oh, just a lifetime. How long is that?”

In September, as planned, Beatrice went off to St. Louis to a two-year girls’ college, but at Ander’s insistence, she kept the ring.

Ander knew when she left that he might lose her for good, but he also wanted her to be happy.