Published:

07/09/2011 04:09pm

First Date

First Date
Barry James Hickey

I was pumping gas at the Texaco when I finally asked Marnie out. She agreed, wrote down her address and the date was set for Sunday at five. Our first date. A movie, we agreed. She drove off in an older Pontiac.
After the gas station closed at eleven, I pulled out her address and drove down 105th Place to see what her house looked like. There it was: 1755 West. It was small, modest and brick. The car she drove earlier was parked in the driveway. I felt giddy inside.
The next day at work, in between customers, I washed and waxed my Dodge Dart. When Sunday afternoon arrived, I went to a flower shop and bought a dozen carnations.
A few minutes later, I arrived at Marnie's house. It looked different in the daylight, but most of the houses in the neighborhood look similar; tan poverty brick built in the 1940's during the Roosevelt administration. I didn't see the Pontiac in the driveway. Instead there was a Buick and at the curb sat a Chevy Impala.
Flowers in hand, I slipped out of my Dodge Dart, swallowed and boldly went to the front door, ringing the bell. I sensed I was being watched from within. M suspicion was ratified when I noticed an old man peeking out through the blinds from one of the rooms facing the street.
Seconds later the door opened up and there was a nervous looking lady staring at me. I assumed it was the mother.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"I'm here to see Marnie," I smiled.
"Marnie?" she said.
"I'm Barry. I work at the Texaco."
The woman stepped back from the open door. I took it as an invitation to step inside. She turned to a small study where a man her age sat playing Monopoly with a pair of old people and a young kid about eight.
"This young man says he is here to see Marnie," she said.
The whole family craned their necks and stared at me.
The man who was her age spoke up. "How do you know Marnie?"
"I met her at the Texaco. I work there."
The old man next to him picked up some dice and rolled them. He moved his top hat around the Monopoly board, his eyes researching me. After he bought the Reading Railroad it was the old lady's turn with the dice. But she didn't roll them. She just held them in her hands and stared at me like the rest of the clan.
"Oh," I remembered. "These flowers are for Marnie."
I thrust the flowers forward but the woman didn't take them. She seemed dazed by my gift.
The man stood up from the Monopoly game and came into the hallway, standing beside the woman. He was tall and bulky and sour.
He growled to the woman. "Did you know anything about this?"
"About what?" she said. She seemed frightened now.
"About what Marnie was doing at the Texaco!"
"I have no idea!" she said. "She's never done anything like this before!"
The man turned to the study and yelled at the kid sitting next to the old man.
"Billy, did you go to the Texaco with Marnie?"
"No," the kid said. "I swear. They don't even sell gum there!"
The man looked at the flowers. "Why the flowers?" he said.
"I thought she might like them," I said. "I told her I'd take her to see a movie."
"A movie?" said the woman. She looked at the man. "He wants to take our daughter to a movie!"
The man turned on me and fired one off. "What's your name again?"
"I'm Barry. I work at the Texaco," I said pleasantly.
"Yes, yes," he growled again. "You already said that. Just how do you know our daughter?"
"She stops by the Texaco once a week."
"Once a week!" he scoffed. "It's six blocks away! Just what is going on around here?"
The woman threw up her hands and nearly screamed, "I can't take this any more!"
She stomped out of the room, leaving me alone with the man. He was perspiring now and his face was turning blood clot red. I thought he wanted to punch me.
Long seconds went by and the woman returned to the hallway carrying a small child rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Marnie, do you know this boy?" she asked.
The child looked at me.
"No," she said.
"Then what were you doing at the Texaco?" her father yelled.
"I wasn't at a texco," said the kid. She started to cry.