Bill Engle's 26 Minute Memoir

I Was 17 She Was 18 – We Were in Love

It was the first of our last two dates. I borrowed Dad’s new Olds which I had cleaned inside and out and polished – it was perfect the way Janet loved our cars. I picked her up after work which was sundown – I was still working at the Country Club as an assistant to the pro. I’d called her earlier in the afternoon so she knew what time I would be there. When I got to the house and pulled up in the back she was waiting and literally flew out the door and down the path with her dress flowing in the cool evening air. Her mother came out the door behind her, looked at me with the same penetrating eyes that Janet had and said “Have her home by 10 Bill”.

By the time I responded affirmatively Janet was already in the passenger seat. She leaned over as she always did and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I wanted to cry. The tears were welled up inside. I knew I would go crazy when she was finally gone and we only had one more night.

I put Dad’s car in drive and headed down the alley. She took my right hand off the steering wheel, kissed my fingers as I touched her lips and then placed my hand on her bare leg just above her knee and slightly under her skirt. I felt her shiver just a little. Then with both hands free she took over the radio and tuned us in to 1400 on the radio dial – KOMA Oklahoma City’s night time all music station. As the music came up we were transported into the world of 50’s rock and roll.

I looked at her with my sad brown cow eyes – she smiled and said “I love the car”. We both cried.

We cruised through town in our own little private world in silence except for Elvis singing “Teddy Bear”. We went up 2nd street and caught the highway to the Deer Creek turn off. Finally just about a mile down the two lane dirt road I found a secluded place and moved off the road into the weeds and out of sight. I turned off the lights and left the radio on. We sat in the dark for about 2 seconds before all our clothes lay randomly scattered in the back seat like freshly fallen snowflakes.
We held each other in love’s warm embrace, made our special kind of love and fell asleep in the cool air of the late, Wyoming summer night. It was the last time we would ever be together like that in the pure freedom of just the two of us and no other commitments. About an hour later Janet woke with a chill; we dressed, checked the time and headed home. Just music all the way home – it was way too sad to talk.

I went to the front of her house which I did occasionally – it seemed a little more formal and just kind of fit the mood. I parked the car and we held a kiss one more time before we got out. It was hard, it was long and maybe it was even a little desperate. Then I walked her to the front door – something I hardly ever did. We walked through the front gate and along her mother’s garden path and when we reached the front step we stopped and just looked at each other for the longest time. I touched her face and told her I loved her one more time. We kissed again, I said I would call her tomorrow afternoon and I turned and walked away. I heard her mother say something as Janet went through the door and it was done.