I was almost out of breath when I finally caught up with Fraser and Lester. They were riding to the park by the waterfront to meet up with my best friend, Patty and I, along with some other friends from school. We were all going to hang out and be goofy and cool … Although, in small-town Quebec back in the 70’s, I was not cool. I actually wasn’t even sure what cool was … What I did know was that I got all happy and tongue-tied whenever I was near Fraser Murphy. His dark brown hair was cut just like George Harrison from the Beatles. It framed his face and highlighted his brown puppy dog eyes, and he was short, like I was. Fraser Murphy was definitely my first, and most memorable, crush!
It was almost the end of the school year, and the days were mostly sunny and warm. This particular day, I remember I was excited to be allowed to bicycle over to the beach park with some of my friends. The only stipulation was that I had to be home by 5:00 pm for dinner. This was not a concern since I had a trusty, wind-up Timex wristwatch with a black suede strap to rely on.
As we gathered at the park, some of my classmates were climbing up to sit on top of the colourfully painted cement tunnel-like tubes. In retrospect, I believe they were sewer pipes that had been added to the playground for children to run through. They had a hole on the side that you could use to get your foot into and pull yourself up, if you were tall enough and strong enough. Sadly, neither Patty nor I could climb up, so we hopped on the swings. The best part of the swings, back in the day, was that the seats were wooden, not the rubber squish your butt swings of the current era. They hung from long chains attached to steel support posts that were almost as tall as the light poles, according to my 10-year-old memories. Sometimes, we would swing so high that we imagined ourselves swinging right around the top bar … I do remember people claiming they had done that, but it’s highly unlikely. Although my ex-husband, Mike, did go high enough to launch himself off a swing, fly through the air, and break his arm when he was in Grade 5 … but that was long before I knew him, and I do digress.
Patty and I were swinging when Lester and Fraser sauntered over. Fraser asked if we wanted to double swing and go higher … Ummm, well, yes, absolutely, be still my beating heart! Doubles meant that one person sat on the swing, the other stood on the swing and with both people pumping their legs and arms, it was possible to propel the swing higher. I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to have Fraser join me on the swing, but then Patty ruined it all. She was not a fan of Lester with his red hair and freckles, despite Lester being quite interested in her, and did not want him anywhere near her or her swing. My heart broke a little as that dream moment faded. But then Fraser suggested that we ride over to the water and skip stones, so we grabbed our bikes and crossed the road to the beach.
Patty was very good at skipping stones and held the unofficial record of 5 skips, so this plan made her happy. She immediately began searching the sand for flat, not too heavy, perfect skippers. Lester did the same, but Fraser caught my eye and signalled me towards a log that was just at the edge of the trees … we were heading off to be alone! The butterflies in my tummy were fluttering madly as Fraser sat on the log and motioned for me to sit beside him. His shoulder bumped my shoulder, and as I looked towards him, he kissed my cheek, and I was in heaven …
Suddenly, Patty yelled, “Oh no, we gotta’ go, NOW!” I looked at my watch. It was already 5:00 pm. We were late. We were going to be in trouble. She and I grabbed our bikes and pedalled as fast as we could all the way back to our houses. Sweaty and exhausted, I put my bike in the carport, and without thinking, I adjusted the time on my wonderful Timex watch back to 4:50 pm … and then faced my mother’s wrath with tears streaming down my face as I showed her the time on my watch. She told my dad about it, and he took that watch apart to see if it needed to be cleaned. Over the next few years, the watch continued to randomly slow down and lose time. And my dad continued to take it apart and “fix it”. I did feel bad about that, but I guess a little guilt is the price to be paid for young love and trying to keep up with the cool kids.
(This was a piece I wrote in one of my writing groups, the instructions were to write about something significant in your life – memoir style, under 1000 words. Hope it made you smile!)
Keep well,
Wendy xo
