The Hayloft. A 1950s Mystery

well tell you the whole story. But I have to do that at our house because…I have a document that Ralph wrote. Let’s meet there after school tomorrow afternoon, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
    Kate looked disappointed. “We have to wait a whole nother day?”
    “Yes. And clean yourself off, Katie, or Mom is going to give you what for.” He looked at me. “And at least don’t tell Cousin Dorothy until after we get together tomorrow.”
    I didn’t promise anything.
    By the time we went inside the house so they could say good-bye to Aunt Dorothy, Kate was looking presentable again. I walked them out to the car. Ed got in the driver’s side. I opened the door for Kate to get in the passenger’s side. As I was saying good-bye to her, she turned her face up to mine and kissed me on the lips. Then she jumped into the car.
    I reflexively wiped the back of my hand across my mouth while I glanced quickly around to see if Aunt Dorothy was looking out one of the living room windows. She wasn’t. And Ed hadn’t seen it, either. I was glad Kate wasn’t mad at me. Because that meant she wouldn’t give away our secret. One of many I had. Apparently it wasn’t possible to be a teenager and not have secrets.
    ***
    At dinner that evening, I asked Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Jeff how Ralph and Dr. Graves had gotten along.
    “Ralph got along with everybody,” Aunt Dorothy said.
    That wasn’t the answer I was looking for. Nobody gets along with everybody.
    “Why? How are you getting along with Dr. Graves?” Uncle Jeff asked.
    He was very astute. How should I answer that? “Well, he did let me attend Carter.”
    “Dorothy had something to do with that. She talked to him.”
    “Thank-you,” I said. I hadn’t thanked her before.
    My father had also talked to Dr. Graves. Had it been that difficult to get me admitted? If so, should I be jeopardizing my position by being friends with Sylvia?
    “You owe Dr. Graves a lot,” Aunt Dorothy said. “Without his help, I don’t know where you’d be. I hope you’re getting along with him.”
    I didn’t tell them what Ed had said about the necklace. I decided I wanted to hear more solid facts before I started any rumors.
    ***
    I had trouble sleeping that night. First it was Kate, about whom I felt a combination of guilt and hormone-induced lust. Once I got her off my mind, I started worrying about my association with Sylvia. It didn’t seem logical that Dr. Graves would expel me from Carter just because I was driving her to school and eating lunch with her. But he might be looking for an excuse to do it. So I had better stay on the straight and narrow.
    What if he told my father what I was doing? That would not be a happy situation. But what could Dad do about it? I wasn’t even living with him at the moment, and next year I would be away at college. I had gone against my father’s wishes before—notably with the episode that got me kicked out of Atherton. I couldn’t kowtow to him forever. And I hoped I wasn’t enough of a bastard to desert Sylvia now—as her boyfriend had done.
    I was still awake when the horn of the peanut train sounded its invitation to those people who were wanderers by nature to get out of their warm beds and hit the open road. Although this train went only about twenty miles, the sound hinted of other trains that traveled across the country. And across other countries. And then there were cars and airplanes. I was tempted to answer the call—and I would someday—but right now I had to stick it out here.

    CHAPTER 17
    I drove Sylvia to school and ate lunch with her and the other two members of our group, but I still had mixed feelings about it. By lunchtime, I had decided on at least a partial course of action. We had glibly called ourselves the freedom fighters, but I didn’t feel much like fighting for any principle right now.
    It was Sylvia who brought up Dr. Graves. “I haven’t been able to get anybody to say anything bad about Dr. G.”
    “You didn’t mention the catwalk incident, did you?” I asked.
    “I didn’t use those words—”
    “Good. I think we should drop the whole thing. We don’t want to start any nasty rumors, especially if they might be traced back to us.”
    “Are you having a change of heart, Gary?” Barney asked. “Getting cold feet maybe?”
    “I just don’t want to get kicked out of this school,” I said, deciding to be frank. “One a year is enough.”
    “Yeah, Gary’s probably right,” Ed said.