Thurs 6 June 68
Robt Kennedy shot. That makes three. Mom at airport on her way to Greece. T took physics exam, then we lay in grass and he asked me what I value most in life. I said thought. It isn’t a good day unless you KNOW it is. He told me it was my left thigh he valued. He used to look so forward to carrying it when I was Dead Gertrude in Hamlet (he also played The Ghost so we were actually married.) Sat 8 June 68 Grad day! We made it! (That was a close one.) I walked the Granolithic wearing my white dress and carrying my rose by the skin of my teeth. Partner was Blair Manteo the Always-Sweet, but I was wretched with poison ivy and pink with calamine lotion. (Damn barley!) Fri I didn’t see much of Toss (pool party at the Meaney’s where I could inaugurate my new bikini. ) But today he called under my window at three thirty AM…We watched the sunrise from the orchard. Into breakfast 7:30 AM. Glowing. “You’ll be even more beautiful when you are old” he told me. Lined up at Walker House, girls in white, boys in blue. Lunch a bore. Parents brought Auntie Beulah. Over with fast because there was no commencement speaker. Weather gorgeous! Sun 9 June 68 T really saved my senior year! I owe him so much! Casey & I rushed through our room like whirlwinds, packing! I dragged Avril in for “moral support”. Poor party at the Cocks’. “I thought you didn’t like parties,” I said to T. He said, “I want to be where you are.” Changed into a dancing dress with huge flowing sleeves. 2 kinds of salad, French bread, fried chicken, chocolate cake saying CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 68. Security guard insisted T wear a tie – he put his belt around his neck. We lay in the same lounge chair. Paradise. This life is enough for me! Immortality would KILL me all over again! We danced & danced. I have enough. I am enough. Tues 11 June 68 Sprawled out in the Meditation section of the Sylvan Manor Library. “The Little Flower of St. Francis” meets “The Big Cheese of Plumly!” Thank Zeus I am a healthy pagan! “Senescence Manor” is an obligatory “way station” on the way to Europe. Training in how NOT to be Ugly Americans. I’m supposed to be “meditating” so here goes. Last night was so perfect. One of the happiest nights of my life. After dinner Francie Parks, Stukey S., Toss & I drive in Someone’s Father’s Car to coat & tie affair at the Bellamy’s. Everyone but Toss & me seek a quiet corner to smoke dope. Why waste this glorious evening? Plumly Survivors, Unite. Is this a boat in which we haphazardly drift together or a trap we fell short-sightedly into? The latter, I guess because T & I flee as soon as possible to explore the grounds while a very good cover band plays “Shotgun” & “Hitchhike”. I wore my blue gauze skirt and Very Tight Satin Vest that Doesn’t Need a Shirt (but Miss Wormrest would say IT DID.) T. skirting control SEVERAL TIMES sobbing with apology & passion while the male bullfrogs shrieked, groaned & screamed. Toss liberated a whole quart of vanilla ice cream from the Bellamy freezer, which we polished off between us; then Eggs Benedict & sticky buns were served! We danced it off. T’s parents arrived – I said goodbye to Casey who seemed happy enough with John M. Tad Lafontaine agreed to ride with us to the Sheffield party. T’s parents seem very young – Ms Sheffield showing off her lime green shoes. Crowded into the back Toss strokes my stomach tenderly, whispers, “I love Alysse Aallyn” into my ear. Toss’ house is a railroad magnate’s nooky little Bavarian castle set into the Pennsylvania countryside. Paintings everywhere by Toss’ father – who’s an undercover artist posing as an investment advisor. Fauve paintings - some very good. Ms. Sheffield showed me to my puffily pink-quilted room – sharing with the absent Francie – but I wasn’t ready to sleep, especially since they had a pool. Swim! Holding each other under water so exciting. We dried each other off and he gave me the tour, including the basements (which go on and on) where he has his darkroom and ending up at the Recently Acquired Matisse. That was where we took off our bathing suits and collapsed in a pile of cushions, wet hair and hot towels…just as Stukey S and Francie P came in! Both acted like this is an everyday occurrence – we are graduates after all! What can they do to us now? Finally staggered off to bed. Toss woke me at ten for breakfast (said he couldn’t wait any more) and I met his brother David (13). Toss’ mother seemed annoyed about something like she had forgotten we were there. T & I walked Tad to the leafy little train station. I kissed him goodbye – (who knows when I’ll see him again?) and Toss mentioned that – by the way the senior boys had unanimously voted me Girl Most Likely to Get Married First. Compliment? I think it is if you realize it REALLY means “Girl Most Likely to be Proposed To.” T. didn’t know it but this poured balm on my still bubbling wounds inflicted by the Rumor Mill. Wrote my first letter to Casey.
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Alysse Aallyn
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