“I have my driver’s licence!” I suddenly remember as we are watching The Ed Sullivan Show, we haven’t even talked about it yet.
He shrugs. “Well, I’ve had mine for ages. What’s so special about yours?”
He turns to me, and I grin. “I can get a car and drive us around,” I tell him. “Aren’t you excited?”
“I really ain’t,” he says, giving a fearful shudder.
I laugh. “Well then, let’s go pick out a car for me. Will you help?”
“Are you kiddin’? You bet your sweet ass I will.”
***
“I would like this one!” I say, pointing to a pale lavender Cadillac Series 62 Convertible, gleaming in the sunlight.
The boy whistles. “Now you’re talkin’. That’s a fine lookin’ ride, Birdie.”
He grins. “You’ve got taste, darlin’. That car’s gonna look like a dream with you behind the wheel.”
I go ahead and make the purchase, well, Miss Mary helps and the bill gets sent to Grandpa George, I let the boy drive it off the lot.
“You know, you can take it out when I’m not around,” I tell him.
He glances over. “You sure? Thought you might be takin’ it back up North when school starts again.”
I chortle. “Hardly. I’d never survive parking it in Farmington, and besides, it’d rust to bits up there. It’s better off down here. You can be its keeper.”
He shakes his head. “Well, shoot. That’s mighty kind of you.”
“It’s nothing,” I say. “Just one more thing…”
***
An hour later, after we’ve dropped Miss Mary at home and driven out of town somewhere quiet, none of us are ‘pure’ anymore. It is the most excellent day of my life.
First, I drive a Cadillac home from the dealership. Then I do something even more outrageous, I take a lover.
Well, my lover is the boy, and I’ve known he’d be my first since the day I first laid eyes on him, and it was one helluva clumsy attempt at lovemaking. I don’t even know if we did it properly, but still.
“Thank you,” he says afterwards. “That was fun.”
“Why, thank you,” I reply, very pleased with myself. “It’s been swell. Just swell.”
“I love you,” he tells me. “Even if you are shameless.”
“I love you too, you reprobate.” I kiss his nose. “Now come cuddle. Let’s act like newlyweds.”
“Let’s pretend we’re on our honeymoon,” he says dreamily. “Someplace real fancy.”
He says it like he believes in it. Like he believes in us.
This has been the best summer of my life.
I’ve stopped judging my old friends, stopped acting all hoity-toity just because I’ve been up East. Miss Mary keeps telling me how proud she is, how I’ve found my generosity of heart again.
And I think to myself: If only she knew the full truth.
She’s unknowingly sheltering a bona fide harlot. A teenage libertine. A girl of easy virtue. It doesn’t bother me. Not really. If anything, I feel… accomplished. Grown. A woman of the world.
I stand before the mirror brushing my hair and whisper: “I have taken a lover.”
“A lover.”
The boy isn’t just my lover, though. He’s the moon and stars to me. My secret. My joy.
“More wants more,” he says wisely. “Ain’t no goin’ back now.”
And I suppose he’s right. Especially now that I’ve my own car. That lavender Cadillac might as well be a chariot of sin. Or freedom. Possibly both.
***
“She’s onto us,” he says, giggling as he buttons his trousers.
“Who?” I ask.
“Mamma.”
“No, she isn’t,” I say, swatting his shoulder. “Don’t freak me out like that.”
“She is, Birdie. I swear it. She gives me that look every time I head out to see you.”
“Oh no,” I say, properly appalled. “What on earth are we going to do?”
“Deny, deny, deny!” he says, all smug. “Ain’t much else we can do.”
“Hm. Fine,” I reply. “We should probably head back. Want to drive?”
Of course he does. He’s obsessed with that car.
***
“I’m heading back up to school tomorrow,” I tell him as we drive back into town after one of our escapades to Gomorrah.
“So soon? Didn’t you just get in yesterday?”
“I’ve been home for two months. Time flies when you’re having fun.”
He pauses. “Say… you think I oughta start smokin’ a pipe?”
“A pipe?” I chortle. “Why on earth would you do that?”
“Well, I’m a man now,” he says, real serious. “Figure it might be time. Maybe toss in a bowtie, too. What d’you reckon?”
“I think you’re ridiculous,” I say, laying my head on his shoulder. “But you should do whatever you please. I’ll love you any which way you turn.”
“That’s the ticket,” he says. “I’m gonna miss you somethin’ fierce. Don’t stay away too long, alright?”
My World of Interiors 