8
"Hey,
everybody! It's time for the Winner's
Circle dance! Those football phenomenoms,
the Granite Raiders, get to choose their own partner for the next dance! The fabulous Mark Schiltzer and the Lookouts
will perform the recent Chicago
hit, Color My World!" A joyous Bob
Short spoke from a mike on the small stage in the cafetorium, in his portable
DJ booth. Mark Schiltzer led his group
of musicians, who helped us break from the playing of the same records, over
and over and over. They weren't great,
but they had two of the only three guitars that we fortunate to have, including
the only electric one.
"First is
Team Captain Mark Granite." The crowd broke into wild applause. Of course,
the enthusiasm of that applause was not universal. "Hmmm, I wonder who he'll
choose." The place broke out in
raucous laughter. Everyone knew he'd
choose Morgan LaDona Tigh. To no one's
surprise, he extended his hand to her, and it wasn't long before they were in a
tight clench in the center of the dance floor.
Lisa was standing
with Morgan's friends, but was beginning to look apprehensive. I think she wanted to get as far out of the
line of fire as possible. She started to
make her way over to me and Artie's gang.
"Next, as
Mark's designated star of the game, this talented wide receiver caught three
touchdown passes, Gavin Woodall!" Gavin
quickly picked Janie Houseman, a very pretty girl who was also in line to be
class valedictorian, at least until the Trap delayed Graduation.
And now the man
Mark says was responsible for protecting him, Wilbur Jones, who picked Cathy
Summers, the icy beauty pageant winner.
My old student council nemesis looked very pleased with himself.
Delbert Batkowski
was next, the big defensive tackle, and in a surprise, went for Ginny Estill,
Artie's girlfriend and my former longtime crush. Ginny was confused but Artie just shrugged
his shoulders. "Your call, Ginny. Just don't let him breathe on you too
hard. Who knows what he's been eating
and drinking?"
"Oh, what the
hell," Ginny said, and took Delbert's extended hand.
The next person
introduced was Robert Pelly. No one
thought he deserved to go next in line, but there he was. He looked over the room like he was a wolf
picking out the tastiest sheep for slaughter.
His wild eye roved
across the field of possibilities, and finally settled on someone who had made
her way to my side. Lisa Carlton,
looking a bit scared, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "C'mon, Four Eyes! Ready for the thrill of your life time?"
She withdrew from
him and looked downright terrified.
"N-n-no! I...no!"
"What do you
mean, no?" he practically roared.
"Rules of the game, baby! I
won the big game, and now I get to pick whoever I want, and I decided to take
pity on you! Get rid of those glasses
and loosen your hair and clothes, and you ain't so bad!"
I stood between
Lisa and Robert. "She said
no."
"She can't
say no!" he shouted.
From the front
came the voice of Bob Short. "Look,
sorry, Robert. It's still a free
country. She can say no if she wants
to! Pick someone else."
Robert turned
towards Bob and the DJ table, his fists clenched tightly. "Free country? Are you out of your mind? We're not in any country anymore! Don't you see? We're in the nation of us now!"
Vice Principal
Tate and a couple of teachers were beginning to approach. He looked menacingly at everybody, but his
look towards Lisa was particularly nasty.
Such intense scorn, it made me put my arm around her shoulders and want
to protect her.
"Look, take
it easy, Robert," said Vice Principal Tate. "Why don't you come with us and we'll
think about this for a moment."
Tate reached out to him, and Robert tried to shrug him off, in the
process knocking over a whole stack of records, shattering many of the
albums. These would be songs we would
never hear again in the trap.
As he was led off,
he turned around and shouted at Lisa, "You're gonna be sorry," and
then uttered a vile slur that I choose not to repeat.
As order was
restored, Lisa sank into me, so much that I felt like I was holding her up.
She didn't dance
with me or anyone else. I was with her,
but so were Ginny and her sister Mary.
Even a couple of Morgan's friends came over to offer support. But not Morgan. She was too engrossed in Mark Granite's
world.
After a half hour,
she decided to leave. I went with her to
make sure she got back to the room she slept in. As I dropped her off, she hugged me tight,
whispered something to me, and then she kissed me. Lightly, on the lips. As light as it was, it reverberated
throughout my entire being. I watched
her walk into her room and gave her a small wave goodbye, which she returned.
It gets more
difficult, Doctor Duncan. I know I'm
under time pressure to complete this, but I may need a day or so before going
on.
Or longer.
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