First

Mama always said I was a born to lead. Daddy always said I was born for adventure. My best friend Carole, she said I was just plain selfish. I always had to be first. Didn’t matter what it was, I was always itchin’ for next adventure, an’ I was always first in line. 

Carole an’ I lived on the same block in our small town. We’d been best friends since before we could remember. You never saw one of us without the other. Daddy always said he felt like he had two daughters.  Summer vacation was our favorite time o’ year.  We would meet up after breakfast. Whoever finished first went an’ waited on the front porch of the other’s house until they were finished. I did a lot o’ waitin’. Then we’d spend all day followin’ the wind till the street lights called us home.

Summer in Georgia was hot. Egg-fryin’ hot as Mama used to say. Most days after lunch Carole an’ me would go swimmin’. ‘Course our Mamas always told us to wait an hour after we ate. “Yes, Ma’am” we’d nod our heads ‘n promise. ‘Course we never did. We’d run straight to the Murray’s Creek an’ jump in. Murray’s Creek was a favorite spot for the kids in our town. Even the big kids would come if they weren’t workin’ their summer jobs. It had everything. Besides being wonderfully cool water to swim in on a hot day, somewhere along the bank you could find a quiet place to fish, picnic, or even neck, if you liked that sort o’ thing. One summer the older kids decided to hang a rope swing. Tommy Weston volunteered to climb the tree an’ tie off the rope, no doubt to show off to the girls. He slipped the rope over his head so it hung on one shoulder across his bare chest. Then he climbed the tree. I remember watchin’ him. He was nimble as a cat ‘n ‘bout near as fast. The girls oohed an’ ahhed over his tree climbin’ abilities. Ridiculous if you ask me. He got to the branch an’ hollered somethin’ down to one of the girls, makin’ her smile real big. Somethin’ ‘bout that got me a bit riled.

I told Carole, “I’m gonna be the first one on that swing.”

“They’ll never let you go first.”

I grinned, “wanna bet.”

I ran over to the tree just as Tommy finished tyin’ off the rope an’ threw the rest down to Billie Lawson. He shimmied down the rope quick as lightnin’, almost knocked me over when he landed.

“Sorry, Caddie.” He grabbed my arm to steady me.

Two o’ the girls who’d done a lot of the oohin’ an’ ahhin’ came over to tell him how great he was for typin’ a rope to a tree branch. Honestly! Truth be told though, they did me a favor by distractin’ Tommy. I grabbed the rope an’ ran for the edge. Tommy forgot the other girls quick enough an’ hollered at me. But he was too late. I reached the edge an’ jumped, givin’ a holler myself. I swung out over the water an’ let go.

Then I bobbed to the surface, wipin’ hair from my eyes an’ laughin’. “Come on in Tommy, water’s fine!”

One summer mornin’ I ’as especially excited to get a start on the day. It was Saturday an’ the boys had a ball game planned at the school field. I never missed a game. Often times some of the boys didn’t show up an’ they had to pull kids from the crowd to have enough players. They just laughed when I said I would play. So the next day I tracked down Tommy.

“Come on Tommy, I’ve played ball with you boys lots o’ times before.”

“That was different, Caddie. We were just messin’ around. This time it’s a real game. We’ve never had a girl play in one o’ the games before. Never had one want to.”

It took a little more talkin’ an’ a game of catch before he was convinced I could play as well as any o’ the boys. Next time they needed extra kids Tommy picked me. I’d played in two more games since then an’ I ‘as determined today was gonna be number four. I ate my breakfast as fast I could an’ ran to Carole’s house. I knew I was a little early but she seemed to be takin’ forever so I finally knocked on the door an’ went inside.

“Carole, it’s me.”

“In here, Caddie.”

 I walked into the livin’ room an’ saw Carole layin’ on the couch all curled up like she had a stomachache. “You sick, Carole?”

“No.”

I sat down beside her. “What’s wrong then? We gotta get goin’. I just know it’s gonna be game four for me today.”

“I don’t wanna go to the game, Caddie. I don’t wanna go anywhere today. Maybe not for days.”

“Why not? What happened?”

Carole gave a big sigh. “I became a woman today, Caddie.”

Now, I’m not quite sure which bothered me more, the fact that Carole wasn’t goin’ to the game, or that she became a woman before I did. Then I took another look at her face. Didn’t look like being a woman was much fun. I silently forgave her for being first. I didn’t play in game four that day. I didn’t even go. I spent the day keepin’ Carole company. She did go out again the next day, but she didn’t go swimmin’ for a few days. She just sat on the bank of Murray’s Creek tryin’ to keep cool in the shade, an’ I sat right beside her.  Carole did the same for me the next week when I reached womanhood.

Every Summer Carole’s family would leave for two weeks to visit her grandparents who lived a few hours away. That was always the most borin’ part o’ the summer. ‘Course I still managed to have fun, but Daddy used to say my smile sparked a little less for those two weeks. When Carole was gone, I tended to spend more time around the boys. We would play ball, fish, swim, an’ get into enough mischief that at some point Mama would always throw her hands in the air an’ say how she couldn’t wait for Carole to come back so’s there’d be someone to keep an eye on me. Poor Mama. I suppose I was a handful.

Anyway, it was durin’ one of those weeks that Carole was gone; I was down by Murray’s Creek, not swimmin’ though. I was sittin’ against a tree a little ways back from the creek writin’ in my journal. Carole an’ I always wrote about what we did everyday we were apart so we wouldn’t miss anything. I was behind a few days an’ was tryin’ to remember everythin’ I had done. I was concentratin’ so hard I didn’t realize anyone was there until Tommy Weston was standin’ in front of me.

“Hey Caddie.”

Tommy says I nearly jumped outa my skin. I say I didn’t.

“Tommy Weston how dare you sneak up on a body like that!”

Ok, maybe I jumped a little. Tommy just laughed an’ walked over to the creek to fish.

“What’re you doin’ out here by yourself?” We were just far enough apart that he had to raise his voice to talk to me.

“None of your business…I’m writin’ in my journal if you must know. Why’re you finishin’ out here by yourself?”

“I like the quiet. So do the fish, so if you wanna keep talkin’ you’re gonna have to move closer.”

I’m not sure why I did it. Tommy was an exasperatin’ boy, but there was somethin’ about him. So, I walked over an’ sat next to him. Funny thing was, we didn’t talk for a while after that. He kept fishin’ an’ I kept writin’. A couple times I looked up from my journal an’ saw him lookin’ at me. He would just smile an’ I’d smile back. After I set my journal down, we started talkin’. We talked about everythin’, fishin’, baseball, our plans for the rest of the summer. We even talked about serious stuff like Tommy’s mama being sick. He was real worried about her an’ had took on an extra part time job to help his Daddy pay the medical bills. I told him how much I missed my brother Danny, off fightin’ in the war. I also told him my secret ‘bout how scared I was ‘cause I had this feelin’ in my gut I was never gonna see Danny again. We sat there for hours beside the creek, sometimes talkin’, sometimes in silence. Even after Tommy got tired of fishin’ we sat there. I knew it was gettin’ late but I didn’t want to break the spell. I was afraid once it was broken we wouldn’t get it back. I’d never felt like that before. An’ I never thought I could feel like that with Tommy. Somehow he seemed to know what I was thinkin’.

“You know, Caddie, I’ve never talked to girl like this before. I liked spendin’ the day with you.”

“Me too, Tommy.”

That’s when he leaned in real close an’ kissed me. I nearly lost my breath.

“I think I like you Caddie Morgan,” he whispered. Then he pulled back an’ smiled. “Come on, I’ll walk ya home.”

I was waitin’ on Carole’s front porch when she got back from vacation.

Her mama laughed, “My Heavens, Caddie we haven’t even gotten in the door yet.”

Her Daddy gave my braid a tug, “must be pretty important news.”

I smiled real big. “Yes, Sir it is.”

Carole an’ I ran straight to her room where I promptly told her every detail ‘bout the experience o’ my first kiss. She was just as excited as I was. The rest of the summer it was often the three of us – me, Carole, an’ Tommy.  Carole even spent the occasional evenin’ or Sunday afternoon somewhere else so me an’ Tommy could be alone. She didn’t mind; she liked Tommy. An’ we both knew I would do the same for her when it was her turn.

It was the end of that summer, the best summer of my life, when I got sick. Friday I had a bit of a stomachache but I figured it was just too much sun an’ Mama’s warnin’ ‘bout swimmin’ after eatin’ comin’ true. Saturday mornin’ it was worse. I wasn’t very hungry an’ it took me a while to eat breakfast. By the time I finished an’ went outside Carole was waitin’ on the porch.

“You’re late this mornin’.”

“I got a bit of a stomachache.”

“Again? You wanna stay home?”

“An’ miss the last game of the season?!” I grinned an’ Carole grinned back.

We took off runnin’ for the ball field. There were plenty of boys there today but Tommy swung it so I could play a couple innings. Good thing too. I was the second half of the double play that ended the game. Derrick hit a line drive to right field. Paul caught it after a bounce an’ threw it to Jason who was on first. Derrick was out. Billie was runnin’ from second to third. Jason threw the ball to me on third but it was too far. I scooped it up an’ ran back. Billie was close. We both dove for the bag. I felt a burnin’ pain in my stomach, but then my glove reached the bag just before Billie’s hand. He was out. I soon forgot about the pain, it didn’t last long anyway. Everyone cheered the play, even the kids for the other team. Tommy was so happy he gave me a big hug in font o’ everyone. That was my sixth game o’ the summer. After the game a lot o’ the kids went to Murray’s Creek. An’ later, after supper, Carole an’ Tommy an’ me went for ice cream to have our own celebration. It was a perfect day.  

I didn’t have any more stomachaches after that. But a few days later I woke up in the middle of the night feelin’ awful sick. In the mornin’ Mama told Carole I couldn’t go out, an’ no, I was too sick for Carole to stay in with me. By the end of the day I could tell Mama was a little worried. I was worse the next mornin’ an’ Daddy stayed home from work. He called Doctor John an’ then he an’ Mama took me to the hospital. Doctor John asked me some questions an’ examined me, then told Mamma an’ Daddy there was nothin’ he could do. He said I had a ruptured appendix. If I had gotten there sooner maybe he could‘ve operated, but it was too late now. I’d never seen my Daddy cry before, but he cried that day when he told me I was gonna die. Daddy must have told Mr. Murphy ‘cause Carole came to see me right away. An’ bless her heart, she must have told Tommy ‘cause he came almost just as fast. It was a little awkward. No one quite knew what to say. Then Tommy told a funny story about somethin’ that one o’ the boys did we all laughed. Words came easy after that. After a while I started to get real tired. Mama gently said it was time for me to get some rest. I asked Mama if I could say goodbye to Tommy alone. She smiled, an’ she an’ Carole left.

“Tommy.” I didn’t know how to tell him everythin’ I was feelin’. How much I liked him an’ how much that summer an’ all our talks meant to me. But he just looked at me in that special way o’ his an’ smiled. He knew.

I smiled back. “I think I like you Tommy Weston.”

He leaned close an’ kissed me.

When Tommy left, Mama an’ Daddy came in with Carole right behind them. Carole climbed into bed an’ laid down beside me. Mama an’ Daddy sat real close. Mama held my hand. We didn’t talk much. We didn’t have to. It was late when Carole’s Daddy came to take her home. I’m not sure how, but we both knew we wouldn’t see each other again. I grabbed her hand real tight as she stood up.

She squeezed back. “I wish you weren’t goin’.”

“Me too.”

“You always were selfish.” She sniffed an’ wiped her nose with her free hand. “You always have to be first to try everythin’.”

“I’ll wait for ya when I get there.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

I smiled. Carole smiled back.

I keep my promise. It didn’t take me long to find Carole’s Heavenly mansion. It was right next to mine on the banks of the Crystal Sea. An’ that’s where you can find me, on the front porch, waitin’ for Carole to come home.