A lot of people envy teachers because they get three months off—with pay—every summer. And this is true—they do. But also most of them try to get a summer job to add a little to the annual income. And I was one of those "most."
During that summer, I was able to get a three-month job working with the U.S. Census Bureau, which was conducting its once-every-ten-years census. Since most of the census-takers were in their twenties and thirties, and I was in my mid-fifties, the director of the bureau in that small city decided that because of my age and my background, I would make an excellent instructor for the census-takers. This was fine with me since the job paid more.
After being instructed myself, I taught classes of about 25 students at a time in an intensive six-hour-a-day, one-week course. And I got to know a number of the students pretty well during lunch and the various break periods. One of those I got to know was Victoria Jonsen, a very pretty blonde of about five-foot-eight, 110 pounds, with the willowy figure of a ballerina or gymnast—which in fact she had been in high school.
Victoria—or Vickie, as she liked to be called—must have seen me as some sort of a father figure, since at lunch, rather than sitting with persons of her own age, she would always endeavor to sit next to me and discuss her love life with me, a subject I had very little interest in. She had a boyfriend named Duval that she was apparently serious about, but it seemed that he was not as serious about her. God knows why, since she was a knockout and seemed to have a pleasant personality as well.
But one day in class, I noticed to my surprise that she seemed to be crying. Quietly and gently, tears were rolling down her cheeks—until she wiped them away. No one else noticed it but me, since I was the only one facing her.
At lunch, I motioned for her to come over and sit next to me, which she did.
"What's the matter?" I asked. "You look like someone just killed your dog."
"It's my boyfriend Duval. I told you about him."
"Yes, but you didn't tell me anything bad."
"Can I tell you what happened?" she asked.
"Of course."
"I thought I was going to be studying last night, but I finished early, so I decided to go see him at his apartment. I knocked on the door a couple of times, but no one came. So I thought I would go out to the parking area to see if his car was there. It was there all right, and he was in it, and guess what he was doing?"
"What?"
"He was making out with Rebecca, my best friend."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, they were kissing hot and heavy, and I noticed that a pair of panties was draped over the rearview mirror—and they sure weren't mine. Then they both disappeared down on the seat, and I can imagine what they were doing."
"Have you talked to him about it?"
"No, I'm afraid to. I don't think I want to hear what he will say—or hear his lies."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I love him. But I hate him! I want to get even."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Just then, Rusty, another census student and a friend of Vickie's came up. "Vic, yo!" She turned. "Becky and I are going to go to the Starlight tonight. You want to come?"
"With who? I told you about Duval."
So apparently I was not the only recipient of this story. Ah, teen angst, how sad...and boring.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Why don't you come anyway? It will take your mind off it."
"I'm not going to sit in the back seat by myself."
"Then why don't you invite Mr. Baxter here? He'd probably would like to come."
"Yeah, right."
I should mention at this point that the small city in which we worked was one of the few in America to still have a drive-in theater, the Starlight. Instead of running new movies, the Starlight offered nothing but cult films, sometimes running them up to two months at a time. Being a drive-in and knowing what drive-ins were used for by young people, the owners figured as long as the price of admission and the pizza were good, it didn't matter what was on the screen.
"Actually, I've never been there," I said, "I think I would enjoy seeing what it was like—if you wouldn't mind, Victoria?" I turned to her.
"....I guess not," she replied.
"And it would take your mind off things," I said.
She sighed. "All right."
"How about we go out to the College Diner for burgers and fries after class is done, and then we can go from there to the drive-in," Rusty suggested.
"In that case, I'm buying—for everyone," I said.
"Wow! Even better!"
"I want to go home after class, take a shower and change clothes," Vickie said, "So I'll meet you at the diner, and then we all can go in your car."
"Okay," Rusty replied.
So I need to add one thing at this point: If you think I had an ulterior motive in wanting to go with them, I did NOT...at this point. But I did later.
I had never met Rusty's girlfriend Julia before, but when he picked me up, I saw that she was quite pretty and totally different from Vickie. Julia was short, dark-haired, and definitely a little more curvy than Vickie, with what appeared to be very nice breasts. She was dressed in a cute little blue denim dress with a red sash around the waist. I think all four of them, now 18 or 19, had graduated from the same high school.
When Vickie arrived at the diner, I wondered even more how her boyfriend could have two-timed her with someone else. She was wearing a colorful and full yellow peasant skirt, an off-the-shoulder short-sleeve frilly white blouse, and low-heeled white shoes. If I had been asked to describe a "dream date," she would have been it.
During dinner at the College Diner, I learned that the two drive-in features were Night of the Living Dead and The Rocky Horror Show, neither one of which I had ever seen, although I had heard of them of course.
After we found a good but semi-private parking place at the drive-in, Rusty went up to the refreshment stand and brought back two containers of popcorn and four Cokes. The first feature started on time, but I was to find out that the show in the car was going to be a lot more interesting than the one on the screen.
After a few minutes, Rusty turned in the seat. "Mr. Baxter, we know you're a really nice guy and like young people, and being a teacher, you must be pretty liberal-minded, right?"
"I guess so."
"So you know that kids don't come to a drive-in to watch the movie, right?"
"I guess I know that."
"Julia and I like to make out while we're here, so you wouldn't be offended by that, would you?"
"I guess not. After all, it's your car, and I'm the unexpected guest."
Rusty turned back. "Great." He looked over at Julia. "Hey, little girl, how would you like a lollipop?"