Edenville Owls

Chapter 37

It was too cold for the bandstand, so we went into the Village Shop. We had three nickels left from the phone call, so I went to the jukebox while Joanie ordered two black cows from Alice at the soda fountain. I played an Andy Russell record, one by Eddy Howard, and Johnny Mercer singing “Personality” with the Pied Pipers.

We took our black cows to the far back booth and sat down.

“Wow,” I said. “You were like Barbara Stanwyck or somebody.”

“I know,” Joanie said. “I thought I might actually cry at one point.”

I’m laughing on the outside, crying on the inside, ’cause I’m still in love with you.

“I love Andy Russell,” Joanie said.

“I know,” I said. “Girls do. That’s why I played him.”

“The guy at the VA was nice,” Joanie said.

“Yes,” I said. “I played Eddy Howard too.”

“Oh good,” Joanie said, “which one?”

“‘To Each His Own’.”

“He does that great,” Joanie said.

We listened to Andy Russell for a moment

Friends see me out dancing, carefree and romancing...

“How bad is it to be a deserter?” Joanie said. “Isn’t that pretty bad?”

“I think they can get the death penalty,” I said.

Joanie widened her eyes and pursed her lips and blew out her breath.

“Yowch,” she said.

“So you can see why Krauss would want to be somebody else.”

“You think that’s what happened?”

“He was in the same outfit that Oswald Tupper was. I say he deserted. Knew about Tupper dying and getting a medal. So he took his name.”

“Wouldn’t he have been smarter?” Joanie said. “Not to take a guy who won the Medal of Honor? I mean, other guys must have gotten killed too, that no one would ever hear of.”

“Maybe Tupper hadn’t gotten the medal,” I said, “when Richard Krauss took his identity. Maybe Krauss is a little crazy. You heard him talking to Miss Delaney.”

I ate some of the ice cream out of my black cow with the long spoon that came with it. The Andy Russell song was over. Eddy Howard was on.

...or its lovely promise won’t come true,...

“Do you think they’d actually execute him?” Joanie said.

“They’d do something,” I said.

“God,” Joanie said. “If we turned him in and they executed him... wouldn’t you feel weird about that?”

“I don’t think we’re going to turn him in,” I said.

“So what are we going to do?”

To each his own, I’ve found my own. And my own is you...

“I don’t think we have to turn him in,” I said. “If he knows we know, maybe he’ll leave Miss Delaney alone.”

“Or we’ll turn him in?” Joanie asked.

“I guess so,” I answered.

“It’s like we’d blackmail him,” Joanie said.

“Maybe,” I said.

“But what if he... did something to us.”

“We’d have to be careful,” I said.

“If a bunch of people knew...,” Joanie said.

“He couldn’t do something to all of us,” I said.

The third record came up on the jukebox.

When Madame Pompadour was on a ballroom floor...

“But we promised Miss Delaney we wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Actually,” I said, “I promised, and then I told you.”

“Telling me is different,” Joanie said.

Said all the gentlemen “Obviously, the madam has the cutest personality.”

“Because?”

“Because we’re best friends,” Joanie said. “We tell each other everything.”

I nodded.

And when Salome danced and had the boys entranced...

“But she’ll know what we’ve done,” Joanie said. “Maybe she won’t like it.”

“We gotta tell her,” I said.

“Together?” Joanie said.

“If you don’t want to,” I said, “I can do it alone.”

Joanie nodded and put her hand out suddenly and rested it on my forearm. She smiled, and I felt as if I might start on fire or something.

“We’ll do it together,” she said.

What did Romeo see in Juliet?

Or Pierrot in Pierrette?

Or Jupiter in Juno?

You know!