Memories of Linda D.

There are many things that bring back memories of bygone youth. It was a picture of Annette Funicello in people magazine that I was thumbing through at the dentist or maybe it was the gas and the fear that triggered sweet memories of Linda D. to come flooding back. she was my first love. Linda looked a lot like Annette, She was Italian and had that sensuousness and voluptuousness about her that Italian women get at a young age, liquid brown eyes, chestnut hair that fell down past her shoulders and cafe au lait skin that so many Mediterranean women are blessed with, but I'm getting a head of myself.



The agenda was the same as every other Saturday of that period of my life. I worked part time at Angelo’s Fruit and Veg.and I would finish work around Five, receive my pay for the week and go home to shower and change. 
At this time in my life it was generaly a pair of black chino's and on this particular night I remember 
wearing a black and pink Oleg Cassini shirt, My favorite shirt that 
happened to belong to my older brother Jack. It looked much like the ones that
 Charlie Harper wears on the sitcom 'Two and a Half Men', black 
loafers and, white socks. ..Shudderrr, Brylcreem the hair, a la Elvis and out the door to meet the guys at Fatso's Diner for the best cheeseburger in the universe... unmatched to this day. 

Sitting in the back booth (our booth ), Brian, John and I were plugging nickles in the jukebox, listening to Runaround Sue, Runaway, Chantilly lace, and waiting for 
Gary to show up with his wheels, which was a sweet 55 yellow and black Ford Fairlaine 
convertible with fender skirts and moon disks. God how I wish I had that car today.

It was Gary’s job to pick up the beer for the night. Gary 
worked at Bronco's Auto Wrecking after school and on Saturdays. It just
 so happened that Bronco ran an after hours unlicensed poker game and 
bootlegging establishment so it was no problem getting booze as long as we had the
money and kept our mouths shut if we were caught drinking under the age.


We pulled into the parking lot of the social club
 around 9:00 p.m. It was really only three or four CPR boxcars joined 
together on the outskirts of town but it served it’s purpose as a local community club. The best thing about it was that there was no Adult supervision. The dance was run 
by older teens.

The parking lot was full by the time we arrived and as
usual there were boys that were too cool to dance sitting on the
 fenders of their cars under the single parking-lot light drinking beer
 and talking about what all young boys talk about; girls, cars and sports. 
There were couples making out in the back seats of their cars and a group by the door having 
a fag in the cool night air. It tended to get hot inside the club because there were no amenities like fans or windows that opened.

As soon as we got out of the car we popped a top and lit up a Camel. Camels were cool back then. God knows why, maybe because they fit nicely rolled up in a t-shirt. Brian and Gary wanted to visit the jocks tossing a football around under the light,
 while John and I was anxious to get in the dance hall. John had his girlfriend, I think her name was Penny waiting for him inside and I wanted to see if Linda D. was there.

Linda was a big city girl whose family moved to our town to run the drive-in 
restaurant. She was in one of my classes at school but I hadn't spoken
 to her because she was always surrounded by the inner circle who had 
claimed her as their own. She was rich and beautiful and dressed
 in a manner that had all the old matrons in town clucking their tongues and shaking their
 heads. Her skirts were too her short, and her sweaters too tight.
 All the young studs were tripping over their tongues. You can include me in that group only I wasn't very studly looking at that particular time in my life.



I remember paying admission at the door and getting my hand stamped with a little green star and I remember that the colored lights were flashing around the hall. This 
usually meant that a specialty dance was coming up. As I turned to take my place along the wall with the rest of the dipshits, there she was in front of me, smiling with her pink frosted lips, with eyes that shimmered like a liquid chocolate, smelling of mild soap and Juicy Fruit. "Ladies Choice", she said.



Do I remember what song they played? You bet I do! It was one of those few moments in one's life that can only be defined as Serendipity. We danced to 'If you need
 me' by Solomon Burke. I remember she was wearing a soft pink mohair sweater and it felt like I was holding a baby rabbit. She cuddled up real close to me, wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered in my ear; "If I waited for you to make the first move it would never happen." She was probably right.

We danced every dance that night. We did the locomotion with little Eva, Twisted to Chubby Checker and Jived to a song by a new group from England. I walked her home or rather I think I floated all the way to her door.


There's not a lot I remember
 of those few short months with her but I remember this;
Standing on her porch steps that night, 
Lovely Linda in my arms
 and my first French Kiss.