“We’re going to be late!” 

With an unlit cigarette hanging from her mouth, Momma grabbed my baby sister from the crib in the living room. Lorena started to cry from the sudden movement and the sound of Momma calling out to me, “Nancy, let’s get moving!”. She couldn’t see my eyes as I peeked through the gap in the slightly open bathroom door. While frantically grabbing for things on the overrun kitchen table, she bounced Lorena up and down on her hip to soothe her.

“Momma, just go on without me! I can make it to school on my own.” I made my voice sound as casual as possible as I lied through my teeth.

Over the sound of my baby sister’s cries, I heard my momma sigh. “Fine, but make sure you’re not late!” She yelled before slamming the front door, leaving the house eerily quiet. My body relaxed against the doorframe. I had no intention of going to school today but if Momma knew why I was skipping, she’d run me right out of town. 

I took my time removing the last of the pink rollers I had wrestled into my unruly auburn locks the night before. Fluffing the curls with my fingers, I used a more than necessary amount of hairspray to keep them tamed for the day. 

Five minutes later, I emerged from the room, school blazer and skirt hung neatly over my arm. I pushed the attire into my backpack when a movement in my peripheral caused me to look up. 

“Coast clear?” I heard a whisper through the open front window where my best friend and next door neighbor, Angela, stood in her school uniform.

“Clear,” I grinned almost too widely.

Angela made her way through the front door. “I can’t wait to get out of this thing.” Removing her blazer, she roughly grabbed at the clipped tie around her neck. She pulled a pair of blue jeans, similar to mine, from her backpack. I took the opportunity to check myself out one last time in the hallway mirror while she dressed down for our day’s activities. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the severely low-necked top she had donned, accentuating the curves she knew she had at a slightly too young age.

“Who are you trying to impress?” I teased, placing my backpack over one shoulder. 

Angela scoffed. “You never know.” She popped her gum loudly and winked at me before stuffing her uniform into her bag and following suit. 

Grabbing my turquoise cardigan from the hook by the door, we emerged into the brisk Autumn air, a full day of truancy ahead of us. 

. . . . . . . . . . 

“And then he asked me if I wanted to go steady. As if,” Angela was on her second order of onion rings. I still had not settled comfortably into the seat quite as much as Angela had. I could tell the waitress behind the counter knew we were skipping school, but she didn’t give us a hard time about it. 

“Anything else for you, honey?” She asked me, politely.

“Just another soda, please.” 

My sense of teenage rebellion had been slipping away with each second I wasn’t following the rules and I couldn’t help but feel nervous about what we were doing. I’ve never skipped school a day in my life. What would my momma say if she found out? What if one of Momma’s friends came to the diner and saw me and called my momma. My momma knows everyone in this town, she says she’s practically the mayor. Or what if someone sees us at the event and tells momma. Boy, she’ll kill me. The sound of the bottle popping open startled me slightly back into reality.

“But, like, can you believe he would say that?” Angela turned on me suddenly. The waitress placed the bottle in front of me on the counter and I offered a nervous smile in response. 

“I really can’t,” I replied to Angela, knowing there was a fifty-fifty chance I had responded correctly, knowing absolutely nothing of what she was talking about.

“I know,” She seemed satisfied with my response. She smiled and revealed the half-chewed onion ring in between her teeth. “He’s completely around the bend.”

Stealing a greasy ring from Angela’s plate, I nodded in feign agreement.

. . . . . . . . . . 

“Shouldn’t you be in school, kid?” Angela asked with a level of authority that she didn’t have. The young boy had crossed our path on the walk to the park. With much resistance from Angela, I decided the mall would be a bad place to waste time until the event. Momma would notice if I brought something new home and I could never resist a good window sale. 

The bang snaps in the boy’s pocket popped noisily on the ground as he moved past us. “Shouldn’t you?” He responded, looking directly at me. I hoped he couldn’t see the bead of sweat forming on my brow. He continued his loud assault on the pavement as we all carried on our respective days playing hooky.

“What do you think he’s like, Nancy?” Angela was daydreaming again, dancing on her toes as we entered into Trinity Overlook Park. I was looking all around to ensure the park was empty of potential chances of being spotted. “On the television he seems so charismatic. Do you think he’s charismatic in person too?” 

“Oh, I don’t know, Ang. You plan on having a conversation with him?” I replied, trying to pull her back to some sense of reality. We plopped ourselves down under the large oak tree where we spend most of our free hours. Free hours when we’re not in school like we should be now. I looked around again. 

“You never know! Maybe he’ll spot me in the crowd and notice my-” 

“You know, I’m not sure his wife would approve.” I emphasized the word probably more than I needed to. 

“Oh please, Nancy. You know she looks the other way with those things.” Angela tutted. “She just wants him to be happy.” Angela sprawled out on the grass, crossing her ankles and placing her hands behind her head. She closed her eyes.

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head at my friend’s tenacity. Across the park, a small child walked with her mother, balloon gripped in her tiny hand. It reminded me of my baby sister, Lorena. Which reminded me of my Momma and all the hell she’s going to put me through if she finds out what I--

“You know, I can hear your worrying from here.” Angela spoke from the ground, her eyes squinting up at me.

“Sorry,” I muttered. 

“It’s going to be fine, Nancy. Everything is copacetic.” She closed her eyes again.

I tried to take her words in and will myself to believe them. Staring ahead again, I saw the balloon slip from the girl’s hand although she hardly noticed. It floated up and up and up until the string became entangled in the tree above our heads. I layed down next to Angela, watching the fragile object get closer and closer to the pointed ends of the stiff fall branches. 

I knew what was going to happen and I was glad that the little girl hadn’t felt the balloon slip from her fingers. Within seconds, the pop rang out as the trapped air was freed from its confines. The sound alerted the young girl to her error and she began to cry. I knew the cry well. My sister cried much the same way when something she loved was taken from her. I covered my ears to try and quiet the noise.

Angela and I laid there in the park, smoking cigarettes she had swiped from her dad’s coat jacket. It wasn’t until I looked down at the watch on my left wrist that I realized how much time had passed.

“It’s almost half noon, Ang!” I shouted, shooting up. Angela matched my immediacy.

I was glad I had the foresight to put on sneakers this morning as we hurried our way down the street and into the heavy crowd. People were gathered in droves and my elbows alone weren’t enough to get us to the front. 

“Out of the way, folks!” I heard Angela call from behind me. “I think I’m gonna blow chunks!” The circle of eager citizens around us shifted in surprise and disgust, giving Angela the opportunity to pull ahead. She grabbed my hand and parachuted us both to the front of the barrier. “Just in time,” Angela squealed gleefully, adjusting the cups of her wonderbra. 

The motorcade was making its way directly in front of where we were standing. I couldn’t believe we were going to be so close! He had just turned his head toward his wife, putting us in his line of vision and I flapped my arms, hoping to catch his eye. Then...

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