Pink Flamingoed (23 page)

“Are you okay?” the trio asked.

“It looks like you’ve got a couple of scrapes,” Amy
said.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Allison said. “Remember I hit the
parts that I can’t feel.”

“I didn’t realize that you hit your head,” Brad said,
causing Allison to grab a handful of grass and throw it his way.

Once everyone realized that Allison was okay, they
enjoyed a good laugh and Brad and Amy asked Chuck and Allison to join them for
a glass of lemonade. Over lemonade, the two couples made plans for a double
date.

Kenny sauntered up the street acting very much like
the boy he was. If there had been a tight spot to squeeze through or a mud
puddle to splash in, Kenny would have managed to achieve his objective. But
since there were none, he settled for scraping his shoes against the sidewalk.
He looked up and saw Harry sitting on his porch swing. Enough time had elapsed
since the end of the neighborhood fund raiser that most everyone felt
comfortable in Harry’s presence once more, or at least as comfortable as
someone could feel in his presence.

Kenny looked up and Harry waved to him. Kenny waved
back, and Harry motioned for Kenny to join him on the porch swing. Kenny knew
that he was about to have another session of what life was like in the old
days. Harry braced his feet against the porch. Kenny had visited Harry before.
Harry knew that this boy was not one who would sit down gently on the swing.
Instead, Kenny ran for the swing, jumped, turned around in mid-air, and landed
with a thud on the porch swing. Harry grabbed for the swing to steady it, and
then checked to make sure he still had all of his teeth.

“So, little man, what’ve you been up to?”

“Nothin’ much. How ‘bout you?”

“Well, I just got through checking my e-mail and
decided to come out on the porch and sit a spell.”

Kenny was not sure how long a spell was, but refrained
from asking.

“What’s the matter, boy?”

“I’m bored. You ever been bored, Mr. Conklin?”

“Everybody gets bored sometime.”

“You ever get bored when you were a kid?”

“Of course, but most of the time I just had fun.”

“Doin’ what?”

“Well, what I liked most of all was going to the
movies. I loved to go see Hopalong Cassidy and Andy Hardy.”

Harry proceeded to tell Kenny about Hoppy and Judge
Hardy’s sometimes trying son, and the similarities between Andy and Kenny.
Kenny wondered which was worse, having a preacher or a judge for a dad. Then
Harry changed the subject to most men’s least favorite type of movie.

“Have you ever seen any musicals, Kenny?”

“Yeah, one time we rented one mom liked when she was
young. It was stupid. All of a sudden the people in the movie started singin’
instead of talkin’, and dancin’ around a lot. Didn’t make much sense to me.”

“Me, either, Kenny, but Ethel loved them, so I took
her to see one every now and then.”

“I’m glad I don’t have to take some girl to see
musicals.”

“You’re lucky, there. But I’m sorry you didn’t get to
see the movies I saw as a kid. Movies aren’t as much fun as they used to be. Do
you know that when I was a boy we got to see a double-feature, a cartoon, a newsreel,
a serial, and previews of coming attractions?”

“What do you mean by a newsreel and a cereal? You mean
like a commercial?”

“No, Kenny,” Harry laughed, as he thought about the
multi-generation gap.

“A newsreel was like seeing the news at the movie theater,
only more fun. And a serial was the most fun at all. All the serials had a hero
and a bad guy. They showed one episode each week, and at he end of each episode
the good guy or some girl was in trouble. Like, maybe the episode ended with
the bad guy tying a girl to the railroad tracks when the train was coming.”

“Hey, I’d go see one where one of my sisters was tied
to the railroad tracks. That gives me an idea. Do we have any railroad tracks
around here, Mr. Conklin?”

“No, Kenny. I’m afraid not. At least not the tying
down kind.”

“Too bad they don’t show any cereals today. I might
get some ideas.”

“I think you’ve got all the ideas you need, Kenny.”

“So they showed a new cereal each week. I bet they did
that to get more money out of you. I bet it got kinda expensive, didn’t it, Mr.
Conklin?”

“In a way it did, but things didn’t cost as much back
then. Of course, people didn’t have as much money, either.”

“How much did it cost?”

“Well, when I was a kid, it only cost a dime to get
in, but by the time Mrs. Conklin and I were dating it had gone up to a quarter
for kids and fifty cents for adults. And popcorn was fifteen cents and candy
bars a dime. Of course you could get popcorn with butter on it for a quarter.
We never got that kind. I convinced Ethel that she’d get butter all over her
clothes. And another thing. You could stay in the theater all day and only pay
once. Sometimes, if I was by myself or with another guy, I stayed and saw a
movie twice.”

“You mean you hid until they started letting people in
again?”

“No, little man. People were allowed to stay all day
in those days.”

Kenny spent the next two hours listening to Harry talk
about the old days. It was hard to tell who enjoyed the experience more.

+++

When Frank agreed to take up woodworking as a hobby,
Cora gave him carte blanche. He could buy whatever tools he needed and
partition off one-third of the garage for his work center. This worked out
well, since Frank and Cora had two automobiles and the only four-car garage on
the street. Frank was only a beginning woodworker when he retired, so he hired
a contractor to install a wall with a door to the garage and a second door to
the outside. The contractor also built Frank a workbench around the back and
side wall.

As nosy as Cora could be, in the beginning she agreed
to stay out of Frank’s work area. Surprisingly, in the five years Frank had
been retired, she never ventured into his wood shop, even though she remained
interested in his hobby.

Frank decided in early February what his first project
of this year would be. He told Cora he was making something for her, but would
not tell her what it was. When Frank had not finished it in two weeks, Cora
guessed it was something major. She inquired every few days as to how his
project was coming along, but Frank always answered with one word, “fine.”
Frank finished the bookcase for Cora sometime in late May. By the time she saw
it, it was a polished, six-foot tall, five shelf, cherry bookcase. Frank and
Cora carried it into the living room, where Cora immediately started filling it
with books. Because her new neighbor had become her favorite author, Cora
relegated the top shelf for Brad Forrester novels. Before Brad moved into the
neighborhood, Cora shuffled her reading between classic novels, murder
mysteries, and current best sellers. Cora had enough classic novels to take up
two shelves.

Both Frank and Cora were pleased with Frank’s work, so
Frank set out to make a second bookcase, a bookcase that would sit in another Aylesford Place home by Christmas. Frank expected to make the second bookcase in less time
than the first, so he planned to make as many bookcases as he could before
Christmas.

+++

Brad and Chuck let Amy and Allison make plans for
their first double date. The guys would plan the next one. Allison was from the
area, so Amy told her to go home and think of any good ideas she could come up
with. Then, on Wednesday the two of them would go to lunch and talk over their
plans.

+++

Brad opened his front door and faced the grinning
young woman who stood in front of him. “What’s with you?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just that Allison and I planned our
double date today.”

“Oh, so where are we going?”

“It’s a secret.”

“So, what are you going to do? Tell me to ‘turn here’
until we get where we’re going?”

“Nope. I’m the designated driver.”

+++

Amy and Allison continued to keep Brad and Chuck in
the dark. All they would discuss is what time they were leaving and how the
guys were to dress. Because Chuck was the only one who did not live on the
street, the women agreed to meet him at Brad’s.

“We thought about blindfolding you, but we decided
against it,” Amy teased, as Brad slid into the front seat and Chuck jumped in
the back.

The guys tried not to let the suspense get the best of
them. They were not about to reveal that Brad had called Chuck twice earlier in
the week to see if he knew anything. Neither had a clue where they were going,
especially after their dates told them to be ready by 10:00 a.m. that Friday morning.

Brad and Chuck tried to take things in stride, even
after Amy took the road that led out of town. Brad wanted so much to confer
with Chuck, because Chuck knew the area much better than he did.

“Is this it?” Brad asked when Amy pulled up to a
roadside diner.

“This is only the first part of it. I’ll tell you this
much. It will be an all day date. We won’t get in until late tonight,” Amy
said, then turned to Allison and smiled.

The foursome enjoyed their lunch and then drove off to
bigger things. On the outskirts of Plantation, a smile lit up on Chuck’s face.

“I know where we’re going. I should’ve thought of it
sooner.”

“Just be quiet, Blabbermouth,” Allison said, as she
reached over and covered Chuck’s mouth with her hand.

In a few minutes, they arrived at their destination.
Amy pulled her SUV into the parking lot across from the Royal Theater. “We’re
here,” she said as she turned to face Brad.

“I should’ve guessed it sooner,” Chuck said. “This
place shows nothing but old movies, and this week they’re showing
An Affair
to Remember.
It’s Allison’s favorite movie.”

“I’ve heard of it,” Brad said. “Isn’t it a chick
flick?”

“I guess so. It’s got Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in
it.”

“Wait until you see this place,” Allison interrupted.
“Have any of you been here before?” Allison was pleased to find out it was the first
time for each of her three companions.

Chuck reached into the back and lifted Allison’s chair
to the pavement. Then, he wheeled it around to her side of the vehicle, opened
the door, lifted Allison, and sat her down. Amy locked her SUV, and everyone walked
or wheeled their way to the theater.

Once inside, all four were impressed. It looked like
something out of another time. Brad guessed that the main floor of the theater
would seat at least four times as many people as any of the multiplexes he had
frequented. And the theater had two balconies on top of that. For obvious
reasons, the group decided to sit on the main floor. Allison pointed out the
opera boxes on each side of the theater, and high above them hovered a fixture
that looked like a huge Tiffany lamp. Gargoyles guarded the areas above the
opera boxes, and a large clock advertised a business that had ceased to exist
many years ago.

“What are you thinking about?” Amy asked Brad.

“Oh, just forming ideas for my next book,
Murder at
the Movie Palace.
”

“But isn’t this place something?”

“It sure is. Chuck and I are going to be hard pressed
to top this.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

The foursome enjoyed the movie and a nice dinner
before returning home. Over dinner, everyone discussed the movie, although Brad
and Amy were reluctant to do so, at first, because of Allison’s similarity to
Deborah Kerr’s character. They had forgotten that Chuck had told them that
An
Affair to Remember
was Allison’s favorite movie.

+++

The next morning Brad received a phone call from
Chuck.

“Hey, Brad, I’ve got an idea for our double date next
weekend.”

“Shoot.”

Chuck shared his idea, and Brad approved. Brad knew he
would enjoy it, and he figured the girls would, too. He hung up the phone. He
had a mission. It was time to get even. He hurried next door and when Amy
answered, he stood there and grinned.

Amy shook her head and said, “Are you going to be this
way all week?”

“Just following my next-door neighbor’s lead. I will
tell you this much.  We’re going on Saturday instead of  Friday,  and at night
instead of in the morning. Oh, by the way, tell Allison we won’t be leaving
until around 6:00 p.m.”

+++

While young love filled the hearts of three of Aylesford Place’s residents and plans had been made for Saturday night’s double date, Harry
sat in deep thought about his dilemma for the upcoming Saturday. Did he want to
stay home or gamble that a little money spent on gas would be well spent on
checking out some garage sales? Harry wondered if he could talk Frank into
going with him. He would ask Frank to drive.

+++

No one knew that the woman who lived in the cold, dark
house looked forward to Saturday. Since just before Christmas, she entertained
a visitor each Saturday, someone whose visit she looked forward to very much.
As for the other six days each week, one day was just as gloomy as the next,
unless she had to discourage an unexpected visitor or she looked ahead to her
caller’s next visit.