Addie and the King of Hearts (7 page)

“Well, how come you wouldn't come with me when I asked you then? Are you ashamed to be seen with me?”

“Oh, don't be silly, Irene,” he said.

“Well, you've never asked me to go out any place in this town—just in places where you'll be sure nobody will see us.”

I couldn't believe it. Actually seeing them together horrified me. I had always daydreamed that Dad might get married again, but to someone elegant and sophisticated—not someone as common as Irene.

Dad saw me watching them and looked troubled. I walked away, leaving the two of them standing there. It was embarrassing enough that I was there with no date, but now everybody would see my father with Irene. I wanted to drop through the floor.

I started toward the record player again, and Tanya pulled Billy out onto the dance floor as though she were trying to avoid me. Carla Mae and her date, Jimmy Walsh, were selecting records for the next few dances.

“Addie!” she said. “You look great. Love your heels!”

“Thanks,” I said. “Yours are neat, too.”

“Your hair really looks different,” said Jimmy.

“Yeah, it's OK, I guess,” I said. I wasn't paying much attention to the two of them; I was straining to see who Mr. Davenport was talking to and watching Tanya and Billy out of the corner of my eye. Tanya, always the great ballerina, kept swishing her dress around and doing a lot of fancy steps, looking to see if anyone was watching her. Billy looked uncomfortable.

Carla Mae saw me watching them.

“Listen, Addie,” she said. “I have to tell you something.”

“What?”

She drew me aside so no one else could hear.

“You should hear what Billy said about you when you came in.”

“What?” I asked, feeling angry. He had probably said something insulting.

“You mean you really want to know?” Carla Mae asked, teasing me.

“Carter, if you don't tell me, I'll strangle you!”

“OK. He said you looked really neat!”

“He did?” I found that puzzling. I didn't know what to make of it. I thought he was angry at me.

“Is that all?” I asked. “Did he say anything else?”

“Well, he said you were one of the best-looking ones here.”

“He did? In front of Tanya?”

“No,” said Carla Mae. “Just so I could hear it. Listen, he knew I'd tell you. He knows we always tell each other everything.”

“He's so sneaky sometimes!” I said, pleased. If Billy thought I looked good, I was more encouraged about approaching Mr. Davenport. I decided that now was the time to go and say hello to him.

Just then Jimmy put a conga record on and everyone rushed to form lines. I saw Irene pulling my father's hand and dragging him out on the dance floor. I had never seen him at a dance before, and he actually looked as if he was enjoying himself.

Irene started one line with him and moved it around the floor quickly, laughing and shouting to the others as she went by. The other lines joined hers one by one until there were thirty or forty people dancing in one long line around the gym. I couldn't believe my father was making such a fool of himself. I had always wanted him to be less stern and quiet than he was, but now that I saw him that way I hated it. I squashed myself as far back into the corner by the record player as I could and hoped no one could see me.

Mr. Davenport was watching the conga line, too, and I hoped he didn't recognize my father with Irene. When the conga was over, I once again made ready to approach him, but he started to move toward the stage and the microphone that had been set up there. It was time for the crowning of the King and Queen of Hearts. It all seemed so silly and unimportant to me; I was anxious for them to get it over with so I could talk to Mr. Davenport.

The stage was decorated with crepe paper streamers, too, and in the center were two huge throne chairs we had borrowed from the local Baptist church. Draped across each chair was an “ermine” robe of cotton we had all made in art class, and on each robe rested the foil-covered crowns we had designed. Big red cardboard hearts, covered with glitter, hung all over the stage as a backdrop.

Carla Mae and Jimmy had come back to the corner by the record player, and we stood watching together.

“I don't know what the big suspense is,” Carla Mae said. “Everybody knows it's Billy Wild and Carolyn Holt.”

“Well,” said Jimmy. “She is the prettiest one in the class.”

“I know,” I said. “That's the point. Everybody knows she's the prettiest, so we all vote for her for stuff like this and she wins every time and there's never any suspense.”

“Yeah,” said Jimmy. “You're right. Billy always wins, too, because he's the best in sports.”

“Also he's the cutest,” said Carla Mae.

“Oh, really!” I said. “It's all so adolescent.”

“Well, we are adolescent!” said Carla Mae irritably.

“Speak for yourself,” I said.

At a signal from Mr. Davenport, Irene sat down at the piano on stage and played a little fanfare.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” said Mr. Davenport. “Now for the highlight of the evening, we are proud to announce the King and Queen of Hearts for 1949. The result of secret balloting by the entire seventh-grade class.”

Everyone in the class applauded themselves as he said that.

Mr. Davenport took an envelope out of his pocket and removed a sheet of paper with the results on it.

He made a dramatic pause, then announced, “The King and Queen of Hearts are—Billy Wild and Carolyn Holt!”

Carla Mae and I gave each other mock looks of surprise and then applauded and cheered loudly. We like Carolyn and had voted for her ourselves, so we were pleased. I had even voted for Billy, in spite of the fact that he was obnoxious.

Billy and Carolyn made their way up the steps to the stage, Carolyn looking modestly pleased and Billy looking embarrassed. Mr. Davenport draped the ermine robes around each of them and carefully placed the crowns on their heads. Then Irene played “Heart of My Heart,” without jazzing it up too much. And Carolyn's mother came up to the foot of the stage and took a flash picture.

I was watching Mr. Davenport.

“Oh, this is going to go on forever,” I said to Carla Mae. “I wish we would get on with the dance.”

Tanya moved in beside us.

“I just knew he'd win,” she gushed. “I'm so proud of him.”

“Proud of him?” said Carla Mae. “What did you have to do with it?”

“Well, I
am
his date!” said Tanya.

“Oh, brother!” said Carla Mae, and she and I rolled our eyes at each other.

“Now,” Mr. Davenport said. “The King and Queen will have the first part of this dance. Then when the music stops they'll choose other partners, and each time the music stops, those who are dancing please choose new partners.”

“Oh, good,” said Tanya. “I get to dance with Billy with his crown on. I hope my mother gets a picture.”

Carla Mae and I smirked at each other.

Someone put “My Funny Valentine” on the record player, and Billy and Carolyn, both looking awkward in their robes and crowns, started dancing alone in the middle of the floor. Somebody turned on a spotlight from the stage and followed them around the floor with it.

In a few moments the music stopped, and Billy and Carolyn started to move toward the edge of the floor to choose new partners. Carolyn asked Dick Peterson, who was her date, and Billy headed toward our corner. Tanya started adjusting her dress, ready to get out on the floor and show off again.

“Addie,” she said. “Are my seams straight?”

I checked the back of her legs. “One of them looks like a corkscrew,” I lied.

“Oh, no!” she said. “It would happen now.” She craned her neck around to see what was wrong with her stocking, and Carla Mae and I broke up laughing.

Just then Billy walked up to us.

“Hi, Addie,” he said. “Wanna dance?”

Tanya turned back toward us so fast I thought her neck would snap.

I was about to say no to Billy when I saw the look on Tanya's face. She couldn't believe it.

“Sure,” I said to Billy, and we moved out to the dance floor.

We stalked around stiffly for a few moments, with Carolyn and Dick dancing just as self-consciously across the floor from us. The spotlight in our eyes made it difficult to see where we were going, and I was thankful there was only one other couple to worry about bumping into on the floor. Billy's robe kept getting in the way, and his crown would slip over his forehead each time we changed directions.

“I think you were supposed to ask Tanya to dance,” I said.

“Are you kidding?” Billy said. “She's been dancing with everybody else in the place. All she does is show off what a hot dancer she is. It's like trying to drag a tornado around the floor.”

“Serves him right,” I thought, but I didn't say it.

I twisted around a bit to see if I could spot Mr. Davenport. I wished the music would stop so I could go and choose him as my next partner.

“You look neat,” Billy was saying.

I didn't reply.

“I was really going to ask you to the dance,” he said. “But you made me so mad that day after class—well, I just asked Tanya to get even.”

“It doesn't matter,” I said. “I didn't even want to come to the dumb dance anyway.”

“Well, I wish I hadn't either,” he said. “I really feel stupid in this get-up.”

“Yes,” I said, looking at him. “It's pretty childish.”

Before he could reply the music stopped, and I quickly dropped his hand.

“Thanks,” he said, starting to walk me off the floor.

“Sure,” I said as I left him standing there and started toward Mr. Davenport.

Now I was going to find out what it was he wanted to tell me. That, after all, was my only reason for coming to the dance.

He smiled as I walked up to him.

“Hello, Addie,” he said. “You look wonderful.”

“So do you,” I blurted out. He was wearing a handsome blue suit and a wonderful tie with navy and red stripes. I was staring at it and wondering if I could remember just the color of blue to try in a painting of him when I realized he was introducing me to someone standing next to him. I looked up.

“… Kathleen Tate,” he was saying. “My fiancée.”

I heard the word, but it didn't register at first. I could see it in front of me. I knew it was a French word with two e's at the end, an accent over the next to last one. I always won the spelling bee in our class.

I was reaching out my hand to shake hands with her and saying, “Hello, nice to meet you,” but it seemed to be coming from somewhere else.

“Kathleen and I are going to be married this June when school's out,” he said. “But don't tell anyone yet; it's still our secret. She's teaching in Omaha. I wanted you two to meet. I knew you'd like each other.”

Kathleen gave me a dazzling smile. She was beautiful.

“I'm delighted to meet you, Addie,” she said. “Douglas has told me so much about you and your interest in art. I think you're his favorite student!”

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

“I hope you were coming over to ask me to dance, Addie,” said Mr. Davenport, smiling.

“Oh, yeah,” I said.

He took my hand and we moved to the dance floor. I looked back at Kathleen. I knew I must be invisible next to someone as beautiful as she was, and I felt like a fool for trying so hard to look glamorous.

“I've taken a job teaching in Kansas City for next year,” he was saying. “We finally found a place where we can both teach in the same school.”

“Oh, great,” I said numbly.

When the music stopped, Mr. Davenport thanked me and started to walk me to the side of the dance floor, but I left him standing there and headed back for the corner by the record player where Carla Mae and some of the other girls were standing.

Someone put on another record, and everyone moved to the floor to dance.

“You were dancing with Alan Ladd!” Carla Mae giggled.

I was silent.

“Did you see his girlfriend?” she said.

“Yeah.”

“Is she gorgeous? Oh, I'd give my arm to look like that.”

“Well if you gave your arm, you wouldn't look like that, would you?” I asked irritably.

“What's the matter with you?” she asked.

“Nothing!” I said angrily.

Jimmy asked Carla Mae to dance, and they went out on the floor. I stood there by myself watching them. Billy and Tanya were dancing together again and so were Carolyn and Dick and my father and Irene. Mr. Davenport was dancing very close with Kathleen.

I realized I was the only person there who wasn't with someone. I was the only one alone. I suddenly felt everyone was watching me. I felt paralyzed. If I only had gloves or a handkerchief to fiddle with, something to look busy with. I bent over to fix the seam of one of my stockings and I heard someone whistle. Three of the boys in our class were sitting on the edge of the bleacher seats, watching me. They whistled again, rudely.

“Oh, shut up!” I said to them.

“Hey, glamor girl,” one of them called to me. “You got a great pair of legs!”

None of the boys in our class had ever said anything like that to me before, and I was furious. They were mocking me somehow, trying to embarrass me for having tried to look good. I hated them for it.

“Just shut up!” I repeated.

“Whatcha gonna do, kick me with your high heels?” one of them said sarcastically,

“You're disgusting!” I said. At that, they all roared with laughter.

“Disgusting!” one of them shrieked, mocking me.

I was so angry that without thinking I grabbed a basketball that was sitting on the bleachers and heaved it at one of them. He just laughed and caught it, and tossed it to one of the others.

Suddenly one of them started bouncing it on the gym floor toward the basket and took a shot. He missed.