Part III: What Happens a Cappella? (Chapter 55)
I think I’m going to kill myself, I’m so embarrassed I could die. It’s just too grotty for words.
See, I go out with this boy,
right? That is, Deb, my girlfriend from Elk Point, and me go out with these two
guys we meet on The Loop. Kevin and Gordon. See, Deb has this red pickup truck ‒ her dad’s a farmer ‒ but she don’t like to advertise any of that
hick stuff, so we just tell any boys we meet that Deb’s so cool that she
drives a stick pickup truck so we can haul some foxy guys like them in the
back. Anyways, I’m feeling foxy myself, in my new V-neck sweater ‒ Prussian Blue, of course‒and my new white cords.
Anyways, we’re riding around,
just keeping things cool, when these greasy guys from Central pull up alongside
of us. Ugh, they’re so ugly my skin crawls, and when the driver rolls down his
window, you can smell stale beer and sweat.
The driver says, “Hey! You
girls fuck?”
Well! We’re not that kind of
girls, so I says to Deb, “Let’s ditch ‘em.” And we ride around town, them
following behind us, honking and flashing their lights. I’m kinda scared,
actually, ‘cause there’s something creepy about the way those guys won’t leave
us be.
But Deb and me, we laugh and
pretend it’s all okay.
And then these other guys,
these real cute boys from Sloan, pull up next to us. Kevin ‒ that’s the one I’ll be with ‒ says,
“You girls need help?”
I’m so relieved and I can tell
Deb is, too. So we pull into the Red Owl parking lot and listen to “Happy
Together” by the Turtles on Kevin’s radio, and then we go to Tele-Food down on
5th Street for fries and pop. Slow night, not a whole lot to do in Sioux City.
Still, Tele-Food’s kinda neat, the way you pick up the phone at your table to
order and a waitress brings your food. Just like that.
We sit around the table, making straw snakes and dropping pennies into our 7-Ups, until they throw us out.
And then we go to Grandview
Park for, well, you know, a little necking.
It’s at the park where life as
I know it comes to an abrupt and complete halt.
Kevin and me start kissing, and
all, and, and ‒
And, then, I sense it coming,
but I says to myself, “No, it’s not time, it can’t be time,” and so I ignore
it, and go back to kissing ‒
Then something awful gurgles
between my legs, and, without having to look, I know immediately I’ve bled all
over my cords and all over Kevin’s car seat.
I honestly can’t remember what
happened after that, only that it’s gotta be too awful for words.
All I know is, Kevin’s history.
Who wants to go out with a
chick who bleeds all over the place?
I just wanna die.