The Star Group

  Jimmy paused and smiled. “Now you probably want to know what this has to do with anything. Honestly…I don't have the slightest idea. It's just that it was so cool, such an impossible feat, and it was done by someone in our class, I just needed to share it with you. Also, I'd like to ask Daniel to stand and take a bow. Please, ladies and gentlemen, give him a big hand for either being the bravest guy in the world or the dumbest!”

  I sat there petrified. The audience started to clap.

  Gale poked me. “Get up!”

  “No,” I mumbled. The audience began to stand.

  Gale pinched me and hissed. “Coward!”

  Calm descended from above. Perhaps Mentor came to my rescue. I looked at Gale and smiled. “One thing you should know about me, I'm not a coward.”

  When I stood and waved, the audience exploded in cheers.

  My class did likewise. Great final note to high school.

  I was mad at Jimmy but grateful, too.

  Jimmy called for our class to throw our caps in the air.

  Five hundred blue birds flew for the sky.

  I caught Gale's as it fell and returned it to her.

  She kissed me on the lips and laughed.

  “But you're not as brave as I am,” she said.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  DISNEYLAND WAS COOL AT LEAST AT THE start. First off, the place was reserved only for graduating high school seniors and a few teachers that night, which I only learned when we got there. There weren't two dozen senior classes celebrating but several hundred. It was fun to walk around and see so many people all the same age. It was a warm clear night, with a half moon hanging in the sky. As Gale and I strolled up Main Street, we couldn't stop smiling.

  “We're going to have a blast,” she said. “And I want to spend money on me. I want a Minnie Mouse T-shirt and a Minnie Mouse baseball cap.”

  “I'm lucky my parents gave me money for graduation,” I said. ““You sound like an expensive chick.”

  “I am an expensive chick,” She paused. “How much did they give you?”

  “A hundred dollars.”

  She waved her hand, “That’s not much.”

  “For my parents it is,” I said.

  She poked me again. “I was just teasing. I told I adore your parents.”

  “Thanks. I wish I'd met yours.”

  Gale was watching me. “They weren't there.” She didn't explain and I didn't ask.

  “Really? That's too bad.”

  “Did you know I'm adopted?”

  “No.”

  “I've never met my real parents.” She paused and her voice faltered. “Maybe they would have come if they'd known.”

  I was hesitant to probe. I squeezed her arm.

  We met Sal, Teri, and Jimmy as planned. They had told us they wanted to stop by Shena's house to try to persuade her to come. Then we'd all meet us in front of the Matterhorn. When we gathered, I asked about Shena, Teri shook her head.

  “There was no talking to that girl,” she said.

  Jimmy wanted to change the subject. He always did when it was about Shena. He asked how I felt about his speech. I hadn't had a chance to tell him. I shook my head.

  “If I wasn't in such a great mood tonight,” I said, “I'd have killed you.”

  “That means you owe your life to me,” Gale told Jimmy. “I put him in the good mood.”

  “And how exactly did you do that?” Sal asked, smoking a cigarette.

  Gale grinned. “I have my ways.”

  The others howled, and I tried not to blush. But, of course, I failed.

  We got in line for Space Mountain. Teri insisted on riding it before we ate anything—she said she didn't want to throw up on us. The line was long, but I didn't mind because Gale stood close the whole time. Then when we were inside the dark roller coaster and going down fast, she instinctively put an arm around my waist. I liked to think it was instinct, that she already trusted me.

  We hung out in Tomorrow Land for a while and then made our way over to It's A Small World. It was the one ride I couldn't stand, but Teri and Gale seemed excited about it so I acted excited, too. Yet it was odd, in the middle of the ride, with all the smiling idiot puppets singing their repetitious song, I suddenly felt the same energy in my head and spine as I had when I communicated with Mentor. What was even more odd was that I had forgotten all about him since graduation. Maybe he was trying to tell me that our world really was small. Gale looked at me as the energy touched me.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  I blinked. “Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?”

  “Your eyes are dilated.”

  “It’s from staring at you.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “The last four years?”

  “That must be it.”

  I noticed one of the seven dwarfs start to follow us after we got off the ride, but paid it no heed. I mean, I wasn't into dwarfs.

  Next we went to eat at some fast-food joint. But because it was Disneyland, it cost as much as a fine restaurant. I was really glad my parents had given me money, my earlier vow notwithstanding. It was nice to be able to pay for Gale's food.

  We met Mr. Ramirez and his family at the hamburger joint. His wife was so pretty that I could see how he stayed away from all the hot girls at school. His two kids, a boy and a girl, were sweet, their eyes sparkling with the night lights and excitement. Mr. Ramirez congratulated Teri on her short but emotional speech.

  “I was touched,” he said.

  “What about my speech?” Jimmy asked. He was asking everyone.

  Ramirez shook his head. “It was unique. I think it must have taken as much guts to make a fool of yourself as it did for Daniel to shoot the pier.”

  Jimmy nodded. “That was exactly why I did it. To praise Daniel and show him up at the same time.”

  I noticed that the dwarf had followed us to the restaurant. I was going to point him out and ask the others which one he was, but he turned away when I looked at him. Again, I didn't give it much thought.

  We headed for Pirates of the Caribbean next. Along the way we teamed up with Judy Farley and Cindy Converse. Both were cheerleaders and it was Cindy who had inherited Shena’s mantel as most beautiful girl in the school. She was an exquisite brunette with long brown hair and thick lips surrounding a sensual mouth. When Cindy saw that Jimmy was alone, she immediately started hitting on him and I was disappointed that Jimmy returned her affections. Jimmy and Sal were slightly drunk, I could smell the alcohol and figured they had put away a few beers in the parking lot. Sal could drink and maintain his dignity, but Jimmy got wild. As Cindy jostled close to him in the Pirates line, Jimmy pinched her side and bumped his head against hers. It looked painful but Cindy seemed to like it.

  The two snuggled close in the back row of the ride. But I had other things on my mind – Gale squeezed up close to me as the pirates fought all around us.

  “Are you having a good time?” she asked me.

  “Wonderful. You?”

  She pressed closer, staring up at me with her darling green eyes.

  “It’s special to spend tonight with you,” she said.

  I chuckled nervously. “We should have done this earlier.”

  “You should have asked me out before.” She paused. “Why didn't you?”

  A serious question. I told her the truth.

  “I was afraid,” I said.

  She liked that. “Afraid of little old me?”

  “Not anymore.”

  She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Good.”

  When we exited the ride, with Jimmy and Cindy on much closer terms, I noticed that the dwarf was right behind us. I seemed to be the only one who saw him. I brought our roving band to a halt; I mean this dwarf was definitely trailing us. I pointed him out to the others and this time he froze.

  “Who is that dwarf?” I asked. “He's been following us half the night.”

  Teri giggled. “I think it's Dopey.”

  “No,” Sal said. “T
here was no prejudice against white people in my house while I was growing up so we watched Snow White a lot. That's Sleepy.”

  Jimmy squinted, his arm around Cindy. “I think its Shorty.”

  “There's no dwarf named Shorty,” I said.

  “There should be!” Cindy howled. She was clearly drunk.

  I strode over to where the dwarf was standing. Naturally it wore a happy face, but its demeanor was anything but joyful. It lowered its head at my approach.

  “Why are you following us?” I demanded.

  The voice came out muffled, female. “Welcome to the happiest place on Earth.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said as the others moved closer. “Who are you?”

  “Snow White,” the dwarf said, “The fairest in all the land.”

  Jimmy lost his stupid smile and let go of Cindy. He should have guessed. I had. “Who are you?” he whispered.

  Shena took off her dwarf head; it took her a whole minute. Jimmy aged visibly in that short time. She smiled at us as she shook her hair free, but it was a forced smile. The gang just stared.

  “I have a friend who works here,” she explained. “She let me borrow her costume. I thought I would surprise you all.” She turned to Cindy. “Having fun?”

  Cindy was no longer drunk. She edged away from Jimmy.

  “I’ll catch you guys later,” she mumbled.

  Cindy left us. Shena strode toward Jimmy and offered him her dwarf head to carry. He took it and seemed unable to look away from its bulbous black eyes. Shena kept her smile in place. She flashed it at all of us, the strained lips, the shaking teeth.

  “Why don't Jimmy and I give this costume back to its rightful owner and we can join you guys in a few minutes?” she asked. “Where are you going next?”

  We agreed to meet in our usual place, at the Matterhorn, in twenty minutes. Our group was now a lot less carefree. As we walked toward the ride Teri warned us that the sparks were going to fly.

  “When we're in line I'll talk to her,” Gale offered. “I’m not as close to the situation as you guys. It might be better.”

  “It might be better if we went to Magic Mountain instead,” Sal said, naming an amusement park fifty miles away.

  “Jimmy shouldn't have been fooling around with Cindy,” I said.

  Sal shook his head. “Who really knows what goes on between those two?”

  We were about to get an insider's view.

  The Matterhorn line moved faster than the one at Space Mountain. Jimmy and Shena had barely rejoined us when we were ushered into the bobsleds. But Gale did get a chance to talk to her alone for two minutes, and it seemed to do some good. Shena giggled as she jumped to the head of our group. Each bobsled held six, with our questionable couple in front. As the bobsled slowly inched its way to the top of the Matterhorn, it suddenly stopped. None of us was alarmed, rides halted all the time, and Disneyland had measures in place to protect people in case of equipment failure. Yet we were hanging at a precarious angle, our noses up in the air. And we were carrying volatile cargo.

  Jimmy and Shena started to fight.

  We didn't want to listen, but we had to.

  “I wasn't making a move on her,” Jimmy hissed. “I was just being friendly.”

  “You practically had your hand on her breast!” Shena whispered angrily.

  “That's ridiculous! I did not touch her breasts!”

  “Not tonight! What about last night? The night, before?”

  “Shh! We'll talk about this later.”

  “Later? What later? I won't see you later! You should be grateful, you won't have my ugly face in your face anymore!”

  “Shena!”

  “I am not Shena! Shena is dead!”

  With that Shena squirmed out from under the computer-controlled steel bar that kept us firmly in our seats and jumped on to the side of the mountain, literally. Before Jimmy could stop her she began to climb up the side of the Matterhorn, toward a precipice from which it would be very easy to sky dive into Suicide Land. Jimmy was brave, he went after her and Sal chased after Jimmy. The scene would have been comical, the three of them swearing and running on the backside of an amusement park ride, but the angles and height had me worried. One slip, intentional or not, and one of them could die. Teri turned to me.

  “Do something, Daniel!” she cried.

  I fought against the steel bar. It budged slowly. Gale grabbed my arm.

  “You're not going anywhere!” she exclaimed. “You can't help them. The park personnel will be here in a minute.”

  “A minute is a long time,” I said.

  Gale gripped tighter. “No!”

  I released the bar. I shook off Gale's hand and carefully stood. Then I patted Gale on the shoulder. She looked frantic, as did Teri.

  “Today's my lucky day,” I said. “I'll be all right.”

  I leaped on to the side of the artificial mountain; it really was steep. The other three had gone around a bend, and I had to climb twenty feet to find them. The scene was not good. Shena was poised at the edge of a cliff, and the guys were pleading for her to come down. There were maybe ten feet between them and her. Apparently she had already threatened to jump.

  “This is just a misunderstanding,” Jimmy said desperately. “I don't care for Cindy, I only care about you.”

  Shena shook her head and wept. “I don't care about Cindy! It's me that's the problem! No guy could possibly love me! I'm a freak!”

  Jimmy tried to move closer. “You're not a freak. You're a wonderful girl. You have your whole life in front of you. It will be a wonderful life, you just have to get past this time. We can get through it together, I promise you. Please come down before you hurt yourself.”

  “Stay back!” she screeched. “I’ll jump!”

  Sal moved in front of Jimmy and caught Shena's eye.

  “Shena, listen to me,” he said calmly. “Suicide is bullshit. You die and we all feel like hell. But maybe that's what you want. But, think, think real hard, you might go to hell for doing it. Who knows what there really is? No one knows anything for sure in this crazy world. But you might just make your problem a thousand times worse. Now you don't want to do that, not to yourself and not to us. We love you. I know Jimmy does and I know I do. Come down because you love us. I'm begging you, Shena, I really am.” He reached out to her. “Come to me, Shena. I'll take care of you, I won't let you fall.”

  Sal’s words were powerful. We were all crying, but I couldn't wipe my tears away without releasing my grip on the mountain. Shena's tears gushed from both her eyes, the good one and the bad. Maybe the water cleared her vision somehow, inside and out. The lines of pain on her ruined face softened and she lowered her head and nodded. Moving slowly, Sal climbed up to her and embraced her. Jimmy joined them a few seconds later, and I managed to make it to them a minute later. I held her as tight as I had ever held anyone in my life. The horror of her brush with death penetrated my soul.

  I felt if she had died, we all would have died.

  But maybe that would have been for the best.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ON THE RIDE HOME, GALE TOLD ME HER parents were out of the country, which explained why they weren't at graduation.

  “Where are they?” I asked.

  “In Europe.” She glanced over at me. “Don't feel sorry for me, I like to be alone.”

  “But it must be lonely for you at a time like this.

  She touched my leg. “I have you to keep me company.”

  I teased. “Do you have me?”

  She let go of my leg and nodded. “Yes.”

  Her house was much nicer than mine, but it wasn’t extravagant. Her driveway was concrete and the hedges were all trimmed. She had a nice wooden front door. As we strode into the place, I noticed the sweet smell of incense. I commented on it, and she pointed out an incense holder above the fireplace.

  “I burn it when I practice meditation,” she said.

  “Really? How do you meditate?”

  S
he considered my question a long time. “I don't know. It just happens if I sit silently and close my eyes.”

  “I'm interested in it because I read a lot of esoteric literature.”

  She nodded as she turned on more lights. I followed her to the rear of the house, and was surprised when she lit up a rectangular pool in the wide backyard with a flick of a switch. Steam slowly rose from the water and I heard the gurgling of pumps and pipes.

  “Do you swim much?” I asked.

  She stared at me. “Yes. Do you want to swim?”

  I blushed, bad habit. “I don't have any trunks.”

  She came closer, touched my shirt. “We can go skinny dipping.”

  I stammered. “On our first date?”

  She smiled shyly. “I won't look if you don't.” She raised up on tiptoe and brushed my lips with hers. She tasted like vanilla ice cream with cherries on top. “But if you look I'll have to look, too.”

  I was having a minor coronary, but it was OK.

  I swallowed. “I'd like to swim with you.”

  She squeezed my hand and went away. “Take off your clothes and get in the water. I'll be there in a minute.”

  I did as she asked. I mean, I would have been a fool to argue with her when she was in such an obviously generous mood. The water was delicious; it seemed to warm my heart as well as my skin. There was no question, I felt as if I had died and gone to heaven.

  But then I recalled how close Shena had come to death.

  The park officials had ordered all of us to leave the park.

  It was only a little after midnight. Not late.

  Gale was wearing a beach towel when she came out of the house five minutes later. Her dark blonde hair seemed longer right then, for some reason, and when she tossed aside the towel before stepping in the water, her eyes flashed with a wonderful light. Once again she appeared to me as the embodiment of all desire, a heart that pulsed with a life I could only hope to draw close to. She was beyond me, I knew it, but I still thanked God that He should allow me to spend even a brief time with her. My fatalistic attitude was as potent as ever. She swam into my arms and kissed me and pressed close so that I could feel the whole of her body. Her lips were so warm.