It was the height of sock hops and jukeboxes. The time when Rock 'n Roll was the soul of the nation and milkshakes ruled the soda shops. Everybody said it was "fabulous", but for Eleanor Harper the 1950's was the best and worst years of her life.
Af...
The rest of the day went by relatively quickly compared to first period. My academic classes weren't too far ahead of my old school, and I easily caught up to the lessons. To make the day even better, I didn't have any more classes with Rider Hale.
The dismissal bell rang and I followed Bonnie and the rest of the class into the rapidly filling hallway. We pushed past the heavy front doors and the crowd spilled out into the courtyard, a couple of guys shoving through to sprint to their cars. As we walked up the curved path, I noticed Rider and his gang pulling away on their motorcycles on the other side of the fence. I shook my head if any thought of him. I intended to finish the day on a high note and that was exactly what I was going to do.
True to Bonnie's word, outside the gates sat a crimson red ford convertible that looked like it rolled straight out of 1939.
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As Bonnie and I crossed the street, Dusty jogged up the sidewalk to the car.
"Hey, Bon!" Dusty called out. "What's happening, Ellie?"
"Hey, Dusty!" Bonnie smiled.
I tried to get out of the way as Dusty dropped down and pecked Bonnie on the cheek, draping his arm around her shoulder.
"I hope you don't mind, but I invited Ellie to go with us to Freddie's." Bonnie looked up at her boyfriend.
"No sweat." He shook his head. "We should have plenty of room. Ready to go?"
"Almost." I added. "I just got to give my mom the message first."
"Oh there's a pay phone just a ways down the street." Bonnie pointed to the street corner beyond the school fencing. "We'll meet you there to pick you up."
I nodded before making my way down the sidewalk. At the street corner stood a small payphone no bigger than a shoebox. I picked up the receiver, slipped a couple nickels into the coin slot, and dialed the number to the Ithaca Exchange. There was a long dual before a nasally, tired voice picked up the line.
"Ithaca Telephone Exchange, how may I assist you today?"
I quickly pressed button A and pulled the speaker to my mouth.
"Hi, um, could I speak to Doris Harper on the switchboard operating floor?"
There was a garbled noise that sounded something like "Please hold" before the line went quiet.
I stood idly against the box
"Hello, this is Doris Harper." My mom's voice came over the speaker.
"Hey mom, it's Ellie. I just wanted to let you know I'm going to hang with some kids after school today. Is that cool?"
"Yeah it's fine, just make sure you're home before eight." She paused a bit.
"Okay, thanks mom." I said moving to hang up the phone.
