(Recap: Part 1 begins in the summer of 1969. A young man working for a wheat harvesting crew meets the girl of his dreams. In Part 2, there seems to be a mutual attraction between the two young people—but is it destined to be only a passing flirtation?)
*
Kenny, Dave, and Jay lounged in their chairs next to the pool's snack bar drinking cokes, smoking, and shooting the breeze. However, Jay was only half-listening to his friends' banter. Terri, the girl he'd just met, was still very much on his mind.
It wasn't typical of him to be so forward as to sit down with a girl uninvited. He'd been surprised at his own boldness, but the lovely young girl had that effect on him.
His eyes kept returning to watch as she and her friends swam or sat on the pool's edge chatting. Jay tried not to be obvious about it, but sometimes she caught him looking at her, and would give him a sweetly enticing smile.
Terri seemed much more poised and mature than the girls he'd known back when he was in junior high. He decided she'd told him the truth about her age, but it was still hard to believe she wasn't really 18.
He and his pals eventually got in the water themselves. Jay challenged them to a race and beat them easily. He was a good swimmer, but didn't like going off the springboards. That was when Kenny showed off his skills. He could do a nice jack-knife and even perform a forward somersault. Jay was a little envious, as it seemed Kenny's diving ability caught the attention of all the girls around the pool.
As the afternoon passed, the three young men were occupied in swimming and horsing around. As the shadows lengthened, Jay thought they shouldn't test their boss' good humor by staying longer. He climbed from the water and motioned to Kenny and Dave. They left the pool, and picked up their towels, while he went to get their street clothes.
Jay paused, scanning all the faces around the pool and watched the kids swimming, but Terri wasn't among them. "Well...darn it," he thought. He wished he could have said 'good-bye,' or something, before she left and he never saw her again.
When the girl at the concession stand brought him their basket, she gave him a knowing smile. Jay couldn't figure out why she was acting that way. Then he saw a folded piece of paper torn from a spiral notebook laying on their shirts. Written in red ink on one side it said, "To Mr. Jay."
He quickly stuffed the note in his wallet without reading it and headed to the changing room. Inside, the three young men collected their belongings and put on their shirts. After leaving the basket at the Dutch door, the trio headed back to the pickup. Jay didn't mention the note to Kenny and Dave.
Later that night, in the travel-trailer parked at the farm where they were cutting wheat, he unfolded the notebook paper.
It simply read, "Write me sometime. Theresa Beck, Star Route, Big Creek, KS." He smiled at how she'd drawn a little heart to dot the 'i' in time. The way Terri printed the letters were very rounded, and girly, he thought.
Jay returned the note to his billfold. He wondered if she'd really write back to him if he sent her a letter. He closed his eyes and could see her lovely face framed by honey-colored hair—with any luck he might dream about her that night.
***
The next morning, the weather had turned hot and clear and the crew started work early, and didn't stop until after midnight. When he took a load of wheat to the elevator, he always kept a look-out, hoping to see the young blonde. During the day-time trips through town, although he would get in trouble if his boss found out, he would drive past the swimming pool. He couldn't stop or get very close, but he strained his eyes, hoping he could pick out Terri lounging with her friends.
Now that it was dry again, all the farms and crews were rushing to cut the fields and get the grain to storage. In town, the wheat trucks were backed-up forming long lines waiting to get to the elevators. The trucks were as close together as safety would allow and almost bumper to bumper. Vehicles of every make and model, and from pickups to semis, were in the queue.
The smell of the ripe wheat was everywhere. It wafted from the uncut fields, and from the trucks and elevators, and hung in the air. The small town bustled with activity. The cafés stayed open late, along with the gas stations, and the streets remained crowded with people even at midnight. Adding to the noise, periodically Jay could hear the metallic crash of hopper cars on the Santa Fe tracks, as they were shifted and filled with grain.
That night when he came into town, Jay drove into place joining the long line crawling towards the elevator. He'd been awake and working for 14 hours and the night was not over.
When the truck ahead went forward for another 30 feet, then he'd follow, before stopping again. The wait before moving was usually about 15 or 20 minutes. That was the amount of time it took for a wheat truck to dump it's load. Sometimes, because the worn brick streets in town were so flat, he could take the truck out of gear and just let it sit idling without worrying it would roll on it's own.
While he waited for his turn to advance, he listened to the KOMA radio station in Oklahoma City. It was coming in clear as bell and once again, they were playing "Mama Told Me Not to Come." While he sang along, he was wishing he had time to get paper, envelopes, and stamps, so he could write to Terri.
"Hello! Hello-there Mr. Jay!" he heard a girl's voice calling.
He looked around and there across the street he saw Terri waving at him. Smiling and running, with very womanly movements of her shoulders and hips, she came over to stand on the truck's running board.
"Hi!" she said, gripping the window sill.
"Hello, where did you come from!" he grinned.
"Four trucks ahead of you...I'm riding along with Paul...he's my big brother!" she answered breathlessly.
