Jeremy's story...
It was just about fifty years ago that I had one of the greatest summers of my life, but despite all the time that has passed I remember every moment of the three months I shared with the first love of my life as if it was yesterday, and when you consider most of the time these days it's all I can do to remember last week, that speaks of the effect that Sarah Goldstein had on me.
What became of her I don't know because her family moved away during my first semester of college, taking off for parts unknown while I was out of the area, and I wonder whether she ever thinks of me. I suspect she does for a very important reason, although I guess I will never know for sure.
The Goldstein family were our next door neighbors during much of the sixties, and even though we lived only a few feet from each other our families didn't interact much more than a nod and a grunt of hello.
That wasn't my family's idea since my mother in particular was a very personable woman, and my folks were very friendly with the people on the other side of us. The Goldstein family kept to themselves, so much so that they had two children around my age that were strangers to me until that last summer when I got to know Sarah.
Sarah Goldstein fascinated me, and part of that was because she was so mysterious. She went to some private religious school and wore a drab uniform that covered everything but her hands and head. She wore socks that covered her legs from the bottom of the skirt down and the uniform was so shapeless that I couldn't see her body. While she rarely went outside when she did on weekends she wore equally unflattering and overly modest clothes, certainly nothing like girls her age wore at the time..
Sarah would walk past our house to get to the bus stop, eyes down and sad looking, her long straight black hair tied up in the back, and after a while I started to go outside before she went by even though my bus came a half hour later. I would greet her with a "good morning" and she would give a little smile and a nod in return while I tried to get her to warm to me.
As the school year ended I got up the courage to sort of ambush her as she went by, trying to engage her in conversation, and in turn Sarah kind of freaked out, looking back at her house as if she was afraid someone would see me walking with her, and that proved to be the truth.
"Father," Sarah said as we got to the corner where the bus would pick her up. "If he saw you with me he'd be quite upset."
"Why? I'm just talking with you, or trying too," I told her.
"I'm not allowed to have a boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" I asked while wondering how I qualified in that way by merely chatting with the girl..
"He's very strict."
"Oh. Guess I better leave then," I suggested while starting to go back home but she stopped me.
"No. It's okay," Sarah said while looking back at her house.
"I'm Jeremy," I said.
"I know. I'm Sarah. I see you out in your yard a lot."
"I'm having a graduation party next week, if I manage to get through my math exam today," I explained. "Would you like to come over? You don't have to buy me a present or anything."
"Can't," Sarah said glumly. "Wish I could but Father would never let me. I'm graduating too."
"Really?" I replied, and after I told her I thought she was younger than me I learned that she was five days older than I was and had just celebrated her 18th birthday last month.
"Do you think your father would let you go on a date? You know, to a movie or something?"
"With me?" Sarah responded.
"Yeah. I'd ask him if you want," I said, my interest growing as I got a closer look at the mystery girl.
"No. That wouldn't be a good idea," Sarah said as her bus neared the corner, and it was clear she was stunned at my asking. "Father calls me his princess."
"Tomorrow. Is it okay if we talk again? I'll be down here waiting if it helps."
"I'd like that," Sarah told me and gave me a smile, one that revealed she wore braces.
As the bus took off I shook my head over how sexy I thought Sarah was, because there weren't very many guys who would have thought that Sarah Goldstein was sexy. After all, she was very plain, with faint acne scars from the past, a big nose, bushy eyebrows and a faint mustache along with downy hair that swirled around the front of her ears.
That was the attraction, the hair. For that I blame my old man, because it was those magazines I found hidden in the attic that piqued my interest in hairy women to begin with. It seemed my father had a thing for natural women and the women in those magazines were as natural as they get.
I think that's why my mother didn't shave under her arms, although because she never wore sleeveless clothes no one besides her doctor and Dad would know that. Actually, Dad's peeping Tom son, yours truly, managed to get glimpses at her armpit hair only by peeking up a short sleeve more than a few times over the years as well.
So I had deduced that Sarah was a furry girl, what with the eyebrows and the other hints along with the little glimpse I got of her wrists as she held her books, the fine black hair standing out against her pale skin. I wanted to see more of her.
I met Sarah every morning until school ended the next week, and although it was tough she started to come out of her shell and I learned that she was an honor student who could have joined the Mensa Society if her father had permitted it. Since I was a stunningly mediocre student that impressed me greatly.
I also learned on that last day at the bus stop that Sarah had never gone on a date and in fact had never even kissed a guy.
"I've kissed Father," Sarah answered, but when I said that didn't count she gave me an odd look.
"Aren't you curious about boys?" I finally said, that fact even more stunning than when she told me her family didn't own a television and she spent most of her waking hours studying.
"Yes," Sarah admitted. "Don't know anything about boys though. My school is just for girls."
"I would love to teach you," I offered, not that I had a whole lot of practice myself.
"Can't."
"Couldn't you sneak out of the house some night?"
"Father would kill me - kill us both if he caught me."
"He would never know. Your bedroom is on the first floor right? You could climb in and out of the window and he'd never find out."
Sarah didn't answer but I waited patiently for a while as she fidgeted while looking for the right words.
"That's okay Sarah," I finally said. "You don't have to. I just thought that you kinda liked me..."
"I do," Sarah said very quickly and probably louder than she meant to. "This is just new to me. Never really talked to a boy like this. It's very scary and yet very exciting."
"Then you'll do it?" I replied. "I'll come over and help you out the window. What time do your folks go to sleep?"
"Ten o'clock on the dot," Sarah informed me, and I hoped she was right because I was in my back yard a few minutes before ten waiting for the lights over there to go out.
The lights eventually went out and I then went next door like a burglar, and as I neared Sarah's bedroom her window opened and she poked her head out.