Lucas and The Time-Traveling Fog

For the rest of that night and all of school next week, I could not stop thinking about her. But I did manage to call Janet somehow during the week and asked her if she knew where Cathy lived, and she gladly replied. “Oh, she lives on Oak Park Ave, house number 237, and that’s just a few blocks away from school …good luck.”

I thanked her, hung up the phone, and thought of how in the world did she know about this date with Cathy. But you know what, that doesn’t matter. I just know that this isn’t a walk in the park, and I actually got to try and win her over for real this time. I just don’t know how I’m going to do it.

This whole second date is making me sweat, and my hands are shaking just thinking about it. When the day finally came and I spent a ridiculous amount of time in my room preparing myself by talking in my room: “You can do this. It’s just some doll ...girl...how hard can it really be?” I left the house early once more to try and find Cathy’s house. After a few mins of driving around, I spotted her house, but before I even got parked, I checked my watch to see what time it was, and according to my watch, it was exactly 5:54 p.m. I figured that Cathy wouldn’t mind if I showed up a few mins early, and this could be a good time for me to get to know her parents while I am at it.

So, I drove to her house and parked in the driveway, turned the car off, got out, closed the door, and began to call her by name while standing right at the front door. She opened the door and said, “Hi, Gary, it’s so good to see you, but before we go, I want you to meet my parents, so come inside. Don’t be shy.”

I gulped and headed inside to stand right by the front door. That’s when she said, “Hey Dad…...Mom….can you come here for a second? there’s someone that I want you to meet.” I then saw them both coming out of the kitchen and coming towards me.

“Mom...Dad...I would like you to meet my boyfriend, Gary.”

I thought to myself, boyfriend….boyfriend? We are only on our second date, and by the time we get to the third, we’ll probably be married.

Cathy’s Dad started, “Oh, so you’re the boy that my daughter can’t stop talking about at the dinner table all week long, huh?”

I replied, “Yes, sir.”

“So, what makes you so special from all the others?” he continued.

Cathy shrieked, “What are you saying, dad?”

“I’m only kidding. So where are you two kids heading out tonight?”

“We are only going to King Frosty’s for some ice cream,” I answered.

“Only that and nothing else?”

“No, sir, that’s it,” I clarified.

Cathy’s dad grunted and said, “Just make sure you bring her back home by 9 p.m. sharp. Not a minute later, or this might be the last time you’ll be taking her out. Remember to drive safe and slow. There’s someone very dear to my heart that you’ll be driving.”

“Will do, sir,” I replied.

As we headed to the car, Cathy murmured, “That went better than expected. Nice job, Gary.” As we slowly pulled out of the driveway, we waved goodbye to her parents and headed towards King Frosty’s Ice cream Parlor. It was a rather quiet drive for the first few blocks, so I decided to turn the radio on to break the silence.

While I was scrolling through the channels, Sea Cruise by Frankie Ford came on, and before I continued scrolling, Cathy said, “Stop. That’s my favorite song!”

She then began to dance in her seat and shake her hair around. I remember watching old videos of Elvis fans going crazy. It was strange to see it in person.

Once we pulled into King Frosty’s parking lot, it was almost full. There were people everywhere enjoying their ice cream on a warm September evening. I managed to get a nice spot near the entrance of the place. I turned the car off, got out, and walked around to open the passenger door for Cathy. Cathy said, “Gary, I just love this place. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. I’m so glad you chose it.”

“Really? This is actually my first time coming here,” I replied.

“I bet you’ll love it too. They have the best ice cream in town.”

“Must be. Seems like the whole town is here.”

When I first saw the ice cream parlor, I was shocked to see how cool everything looked. This was exactly how my grandmother Janet described it to me; she even got it down to the smallest detail. There were workers in white uniforms that had a yellow crown on the top right side. There were soda machines and lots of neon and chrome everywhere, just as she said.

It was our turn to order, but I wasn’t ready, so I told Cathy to go first. She said, “I’ll have one Hawaiian Sherbet ice cream in a waffle cone with whipped cream and a cherry on top, please.”

The worker said, “Coming right up! So, what will you have?” as he looked at me.

“I’ll have one banana strawberry ice cream in a waffle cone with whipped cream and a cherry on top, too.” I then looked at Cathy, and she smiled back at me with a wink.

We got our ice cream and walked outside to sit on a bench together. I asked, “How’s the Ice Cream?”

“Good...do you want to try?”

“Sure, and you can try mine too,” I said.

“Ok.”

I had a lick of hers, and wow, that was sour.

“What’s wrong, you don’t like it,” she said.

I looked back at her and answered, “Well... I’ve never tasted anything like that before. What did you say this flavor was?”

“Hawaiian Sherbet,” she replied.

“Oh, that’s a taste I won’t forget.” Cathy continued to lick my ice cream.

“Hey, save some for me!” I protested. She laughed and gave me my ice cream cone back.

“Thanks for leaving me some.”

“Something is better than nothing,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess.”

Cathy then asked, “So Gary, a little birdie told me that you’re from California. Is that true?”

“Yep, the birdie was right. I’m from Los Angeles, California.”

Cathy gasped and asked, “Thee Los Angeles, California?! I’ve always dreamed of living there. The sun, the ocean, the glamorous life. So what was it like living there?”

“Well, it was all that, but after a while, even the glamor gets boring.”

“I don’t think I would ever get bored of California,” Cathy replied. “So, what made you move all the way here?”

Man, she asks tough questions. Now, how am I going to answer that? I guess I have to wing it.

So, I said, “I got two words to answer that….my dad. He got transferred here with his job.”

’Yeah, that’s tough having to make new friends and all.”

“Yeah, making friends is tough, but apparently, making enemies is easy.”

“Oh, you mean Henry and his posse. How’s that going?” Cathy asked. Just then, we heard a loud car screeching its tires around the corner and saw it coming our way. It screeched as it stopped right in front of our bench. It was Henry and his gang.

Henry leans over and barks out his window, “Hey, loser….we are gonna do this or what?”

I shouted back, “Uh, now’s not a good time. I’m kinda busy.”

“There’s never a good time with you, huh. You’ve been dodging me for days. We’re racing tonight. Meet me by the new highway on fifty-first street; you can’t miss it. See you there at 8:30.”