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handsome lady. She did, however, have a gentle, lovely smile.
 He seems nice enough, she said hesitantly.
 Go on?
 How does he treat you?
 Fine. But 
 Yes?
 You were going to say something first?
 It was nothing.
 Tell me.
She hesitated again.  He s always talking about things.
 Things? I asked, even though I knew what she meant. Daniel liked things: hot cars, social events, pretty people the usual. Since the universe was
composed primarily of things, I had never seen it as a fault. Yet Daniel could be hard to talk to because he seldom showed any deep feelings or concern
for anything but  things.
Mrs. Parish shrugged, squeezing a couple more glasses into the dishwasher.  Does he ever discuss the two of you? 
 Yeah, sure, I lied.
 You communicate well when you re alone together then. That s good. That was the only thing I was concerned about.  She closed the door on the
washer and turned it on. The water churned. So did my stomach. I pushed away the cake. I d heard a car pulling up outside. It must be Daniel, I thought. I
excused myself and hurried to the front door.
I found him outside opening our garage. Graduation was a couple of weeks off, but my parents had already bought me my present. I can t say what it
was without giving the impression I was spoiled rotten.
It cost a fortune. It was fast. It was foreign.
It was a Ferrari.
Oh, my car. I loved it. I loved how red it was. I loved everything about it. Daniel loved it too, apparently. He hardly noticed my shining presence when I
came out to greet him. He fell in love with my car at first sight.
He had taken longer to fall in love with me.
I had officially met Daniel after a high school play in which he played the lead. I have an incredible memory for facts, but I cannot remember what the
play was about. That says a lot. He blew me away, and he wasn t even that great. He had forgotten several lines, and he d been totally miscast. None of
that mattered, though. He just had to strut around up there under the lights, and I felt I just had to go backstage afterward and commend him on his artistry.
Of course, Jo had to drag me kicking and screaming to his dressing room. I was sort of shy, sometimes.
Since we went to the same school and were in the same grade, I naturally knew of him before we met after the play. I would like to record for posterity
that the reverse was also true, that he had noted with approval my existence the four years we had spent together at Hazzard High. But the first thing he
asked when Jo introduced us was if I was new to the area. What a liar. He didn t want me to think I was too cute.
But he asked me out, and that was the bottom line. He asked me out right there in front of his dressing room with Jo standing two feet away with her
mouth uncharacteristically closed. Later, it seemed so amazing to me that I wondered if Jo hadn t set it all up beforehand. But she swore to the day I died
that it wasn t so. . . .
I must talk about his dashing body. It was smooth and hard. It had great lines, like a great race car. Except Daniel wasn t red. He was tan. He hugged
the road when he moved. He had legs, he had hips. He had independent rear suspension. We used to make out all the time in his bedroom with the
music on real loud. And then, one warm and lustful evening, two weeks before Beth s birthday party, we took off our clothes and almost had sex.
I loved to think about sex. I could fantasize six hours a day and not get tired, even if I was repeating the same fantasy with only slight variations. I was a
master of slight variations. But one can think too much. When we got naked together in bed, things did not go well. Daniel couldn t . . . Oh, this will sound
crude if I say it, so I ll say instead that I shouldn t have overdone it comparing him to my Ferrari. Yet, in a sense, he was as fast as the car. I left the room a
virgin.
He was so embarrassed. I didn t understand why. I was going to give him another fifty chances. I wasn t going to tell anyone. I didn t tell anyone, not
really. Maybe Jo, sort of. But she couldn t have told anyone else and had enough details to sound like she knew what she was talking about. Unless she
had added details of her own.
Daniel and I had other things in common, other things we liked to do together. We both enjoyed going to movies, to the beach, out to eat. That may not
sound like a lot, but when you re in high school, it often seems like that s all there is.
Anyway, when I went outside to welcome Daniel, he was in ecstasy. He had turned on the light in the garage and was pacing around the car and kicking
the tires like guys are fond of doing when they see a hot set of wheels. I didn t mind. He had on white pants and a rust-colored leather coat that went
perfectly with his head of thick brown hair.
 Did you have it on the freeway today, Shar? he asked.
 Yeah, but I didn t push it. They told me to break it in slowly over the first thousand miles.
 This baby could go up to one forty before it would begin to sweat. He popped open the driver s door and studied the speedometer.  Do you know how
many grand this set your dad back?
 He wouldn t tell me. Do you know how many?
Daniel shook his head.  Let s just say he could have bought you a house in the neighborhood for the same money. He went to climb inside.  Are you
ready to go? Can I drive?
 We can t take it. Amanda Parish is here, and she s riding with us. And we have to pick up Jo.
Although Joanne had introduced the two of us, Daniel didn t like her. It would be hard to pinpoint specifically what she did that bothered him, other than
that he was a boy and she had a tendency to make the male species as a whole feel inferior.
I had no idea what he thought of Amanda.
He showed a trace of annoyance.  You didn t tell me.
 I didn t know until a little while ago. The Ferrari had no backseat.  We can go for a drive in it tomorrow.
He shut the door, sort of hard, and I jumped slightly. To be entirely truthful, I never felt entirely comfortable around Daniel. He strode toward me and gave
me a hug. His embraces were always unexpected.
 Hi, he said.
 Hi.
He kissed me. He wasn t an expert at lovemaking, but he had a warm mouth. He also had strong arms. As they went around me, I could feel myself
relaxing and tensing at the same time. I didn t know if other girls felt the same way when their boyfriends embraced them. But when his kisses grew hard
and deep, I didn t mind.
 Oh, sorry, we heard behind us a minute or so later. Daniel let go, and I whirled. There was Amanda, as pretty and as unprepared as when I walked in
on her in the upstairs bathroom. Her big eyes looking down, she turned to leave.
 No, it s OK, I said, taking a step toward her, only mildly embarrassed.  We should be leaving. Stay here. I ll go say goodbye to Jimmy and Mother
Mary. Be back in a moment.
Amanda stopped.  What did you say?
I suddenly realized I d brought up Jimmy.  If Jimmy s awake, I said quickly, the remark sounding thin in my own ears.  He was asleep a few minutes
ago.
Amanda stared at me a moment. Then she muttered,  Say hello for me.
 Sure.
Jimmy was awake when I peeked in his door. He motioned me to come and sit on his bed. His computer screen was still on, and, as always, I found the
faint green light hard on my eyes.
 Why don t you just turn it off ? I asked, gesturing to the CRT. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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