Sadie Hawkins

General

October was the month and a chill was set in the air. I was twelve and this was a wonderful time of year for a twelve year old. School had gotten underway and the students had settled in , new locker combinations remembered, new students now not so new and Halloween was soon at hand. Twelve year olds love Halloween . At this age there is a freedom that does not come with being ten or fifteen. Decorations adorned all the hallways of school and I was still young enough to be excited by them. They set an uplifting mood from the music room to the gym and even to science class. Shop seem to be the only place that escaped all these devotions to autumn. Football games  and  basketball practice took much time for many while the girls got their pompoms in working order for all the victories to soon follow. The band practiced all the marching music to help the team spirit all the while their uniforms just newly purchased were starched and brass buttons all polished. White feathers adorned the blue caps and chin straps kept all in place . The tubas then were brass and had a wonderful shine in the Saturday afternoon sunlight. You could hear them for miles in those afternoons.

This was a time of cursive writing and was to be practiced until wonderfully legible. The girls for some reason always had the most beautiful penmanship even with those very distracting hearts over the I’s. They could make messages so small you almost needed a microscope to read them. I tried to emulate this several times and found that I had a new appreciation for a talent I could not possess.

This was a very different time than today. We actually had grades that were divided into divisions. These divisions were divided by IQ or some such test that would find the best and brightest. From 7/1 to 7/5 and the same with other grades , we kind of formed cliques. There was a great deal of competition between classmates and I believe this was the purpose of these divisions. If this was the intent , it worked beautifully. Ritchie Eastwood was my nemasis ! I was 7/2 and neck and neck with Ritchie at every turn. One week he was top of the heap and the next me. We forged a kind of uncomfortable friendship. Us against the rest and if I could find a way to better him I did. The difference between Ritchie and me was that I soon noticed girls.

October used to bring the Sadie Hawkins Dance. I have no idea if this still is a tradition. This was a scary time for young men of twelve! Sadie Hawkins was a Hillbilly ritual that once per year allowed females from the hills and hollows to capture a man for her husband . Well the dance was the same without the complications. The new version of Sadie Hawkins was for the females to ask the desire of the month to the dance and one could hardly refuse.

It was at this ritual that I had my first kiss. Maggie was from 7/5 and not one of my usual contacts although I had always noticed her. She was very pretty and brunette. She had developed before her peers and was so desireable, even at twelve.

Joe Rembock was  the leader of the band, The Sattelites. He along with Larry Fioretti were the base of the band. They were juniors and well liked . It was this Sadie Hawkins dance when I was not asked but attended anyhow that Maggie and I made some kind of connection. We snuck outside the cafeteria , where the dance was being held . We hugged . I unzipped her coat so that I could feel her near me. We kissed and I will never forget the softness, the silkiness of the feel of her hair, the warmth of her young body. It was my young problem that I had been given an attitude of 7/1 to 7/5. This was the last time I ever talked to or kissed her , although in my mind I have thought of this so many times.

And then comes the worm in the salad so to speak. I had often thought of calling her until her brother murdered one of my best friends. Ruby.