The Perfect Date

“The Perfect Date”

       I was just sixteen, and it was Saturday �" I had a date that night and I was really excited, and quite a bit leery because of the way Pete and my best friend Sue had acted all through the week.  But any way I was ready to go when he came to the door.  He gave me a dozen yellow roses, said they were Tyler Roses but it wouldn’t have mattered if they’d been from Japan �" they were from him.  We said our good-byes to my Mom and Dad and we headed to his car.  A great car by the way �" a black Chevy �" when we got down the stairs and near the parking lot he told me to close my eyes. 

       Well talk about alarms going off in my head �" I have never liked surprises and I sure as heck wanted to be able to see where I was going.  He told me ‘trust me’.  Okay now history told me that those words coming from a boy were not good words to hear, I mean for crying out loud the last (well heck he was the first, actually the only) boy to say those words to me and they hadn’t turned out too darn good �" a baby was the result and she wasn’t mine!  But this was Pete, and so I shut my eyes, and no I did not peek.  He walked me around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for me.  Helped me to get in and sit down.  He told me not to open my eyes until he got in the car.  It was hard, but I kept my eyes shut tight.  But for sure the very instant he closed his doors my eyes were open wide.  And darn it, I’d just got the tears to stop from the roses. And when I saw the inside of his car I started to cry all over again.

       Eyes open what I saw took my breath away.  There were over a hundred little silver stars stuck to the roof and a crescent shaped moon hung from the overhead light.  There were a few stars stuck to strings dangling around the moon.  There was Red Dirt on the floor, and pine cones and scattered needles.  There was a miniature oil well derrick in the back and more of what was glitter to represent the silver star dust.  He even had a tape recording of water washing up against the shore.  He’d thought of everything.  He was everything. 

       So now you know that never would a date ever compare to that.  This all took place in 1965 while we were Seniors at Lamar High School in Houston, TX.

       Pete graduated and after that summer he went on to Annapolis Naval Academy.  And as the fickle lady fate would say…the rest is history.  We did stay in touch, letters and a few phone calls and several visits. 

       Many years later, actually in the year 2002 (I think ) I recreated the date for Pete.  However, mine was done by long distance. 

       I special ordered a figurine from a special Texas Treasure shop, it was an oil pump with a little crystal full of Texas Black Gold �" oil.  Oh and I need to say at this point, Sue �" who is still my best friend �" helped me.  We went to so many stores we lost count searching for the perfect items.  We found a gift box in the shape of a Star, and then I found a larger gift box that was round and the Star Box fit perfectly into it.  I bought a Match-box Chevy car and scraped off the markings and painted it black.  I found pencil drawings by a wonderful Texas artist �" they were scenes from Texas history, and of course one had oil well derricks and a lake in it.  I got pine cones, and pine needles and placed them in the star.  I put red dirt in a small jar and also placed it in the star.  There were tiny silver stars in a container and Silver Star dust also placed in the star.  I bought a miniature dozen yellow roses made of material and tied a green bow around them and placed them with the other treasures.  There was a small oilwell derrick, and a crescent moon too.

       I placed everything in the STAR and secured it snuggly in the round box, and then wrapped them to mail to Pete.  I had it marked with explicit directions to deliver only on Christmas Eve. 

       The story of this one special date has been shared in many places, told to a diverse group of people. 

The story of - Silver Stars and Military Bars

Silver Stars       Cheryl Ann Welch                    Military Bars                        Peter Douglas Blackledge

 

© Cheryl Davis �" 10/7/13

Reviews

[mrittika moyurakkhi]

Well-written just as the prequel... :)