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"The Hue from Shore" Part 3 in a series

She's the one.

Tim's interest in Mindy was without question. He'd started to date Barbara Mossberg, and usually filled the remainder of his weekends by hanging out with the guys, but still, anytime he saw Mindy, his mind raced. He'd still see her at school, and still receive the same warmth that endeared her to him so, and he felt different after a few words from her. The feeling he got from seeing her lasted for at least an hour or so, and a particularly good snippet of interaction would carry him past the end of the school day. This was evident (or would have been evident to an observer who knew what to look for) even hours later when he was driving home with Bill Crawford and Jay Twitchell. Tim would put on Bruce Springsteen's new tape, "The River," and pound the wheel with fervency as he sang along to "Hungry Heart," ignoring the protests of Bill, who was sick of Springsteen and wanted to play his Robin Trower for a change. Of course, the days when Bill drove his souped-up Skylark, he typically got to play the tapes he wanted, always Foghat, Robin Trower, or Blue Oyster Cult.


One Monday, after Tim picked up the Bill in the morning, he thought about how he'd seen Mindy that weekend at the Cedarville cinemas. He'd seen her with Roger Craig. Roger was a football player with a mercurial personality, who was always pleasant to the likes of Tim, but known for occasional outbursts, legendary in magnitude. Just last year, Roger had a heated exchange with a couple of members of his defensive line in the cafeteria, shouting loudly enough to form a ring of onlookers. His tirade, berating his teammates for sloppy play, was capped by an arm-sweep of the top of the lunch table at which they were sitting, sending four melamine trays still very much laden with tater-tots, chocolate pudding, and green beans cascading to the floor. Roger stormed away, stepping past the Pollock painting of food that he's created on the floor, right out the swinging doors, and to his car. Coach Fisher had to have a talk with the Vice-Principal to avert suspension and the attendant ineligibility for that Thursday's game that it would bring. Roger was given one week of detention, the team got a victory on Thursday.


Roger's temper and moodiness were evident, and he was certainly one of those guys who you always tiptoed around until you were sure what sort of mood he was in. Mindy was at the movies with him. Tim thought about her sensitivity, her creativity, her specialness, and how it was mostly lost on a guy like Roger. Tim though about this as he idled in Jay's driveway. He silently, expressionlessly, thought about the implications, and how the spark and sizzle of a guy like Roger was wooing Mindy, and how it would ultimately leave her wanting. He continued to think of this as Jay got into his car. Tim looked in his rearview mirror, and saw how that at the end of the adjoining driveway, Jay's next door neighbors, the Browns, had left their two new galvanized metal trashcans out in the street. Tim floored it in reverse, into the Browns' trashcans, and they went flying. In one smooth motion, he braked into a reverse-skid, moved the Dodge's column shift from "R" into "D", and spun the tires as he drove away. Bill and Jay laughed up a storm. They didn't notice that Tim was not laughing.



...to be continued