Summer Solstice

A blue skirt, hair tied up in a white ribbon, delicate feet slipped into blue ankle strap heels – she looked through the haze trying to make out the figure slowly the mist lifts, and she can see the girl more clearly. The girl is beautiful, a high brow, arched eyebrows, high cheekbones, a pert nose, and full lips, with a crowing, glory of wavy chestnut hair, tied up in a white ribbon with a matching soft belt that nips in her tiny waist and accentuates her hourglass figure. Her perfect white teeth sparkle as she smiles at her reflection in the mirror. She knows that she is beautiful!

She is getting into a car – it is red and white; it is wide with wings at the back of the car. There are three people in the car the driver, a boy, and another boy and girl at the back.

‘Hello Nancy’, they say. ‘’Hello, she replies, I am so excited about the competition, but I am also nervous. Hope we remember all of our steps Jerry. How are you feeling Ruby and John?’

‘I think we are all a bit apprehensive, says Jerry, but we will just have to give it our best shot, and may the best team win.

They are driving with the top up, so that the wind doesn’t upset the girl’s hair and it was not a wonder, at the speed that they are driving. There are crowds of excited teenagers entering the hall as they arrive. The girls are wearing A-line dresses or skirts and blouses, all of them are fluffed out by full petticoats. The boys are wearing high waist trousers, shirts are tucked into their trousers, and their hair is slicked back.

The girl who she now knows as Nancy – now why does that name sound familiar, this puzzled her.

They go through all the dances – six couples on the dance floor at a time – the Jitterbug, the Swing, the Lindy, Rock n’ Roll, the Boogie Woogie. Nancy and Jerry don’t miss a step the girls do but neither does another couple. The last two couples left on the floor; the audience is going wild. The last dance is the Fox Trot. The other couple glides smoothly across the floor as do Nancy and Jerry.  Is it going to be a tie, she wonders? Both men hold their dance partners firmly, both do the rise and fall perfectly – they both go into the dip, it looks as if it is going to be a tie! Somehow the man's grip slips and his partner drops to the floor. The crowds are going wild. Nancy and Jerry are crowned dancing king and queen for the year. They are elated. The band strikes up again and the party is on.

A man who has been looking at Nancy all evening comes over to her table and gets down on one knee in front of her and declares his love for her.  ‘You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and I am going to marry you, he says. Nancy looks him up and down and tells him to go and jump in the lake.

She feels elated that Nancy rejected his advances and wishes that she could tell Nancy – but she doesn’t know why? Nancy gets up to dance with another chap and makes as wide a berth from the man, as possible.

Jerry opens the car door for Nancy and walks her to the door.  Neither Nancy nor Jerry see the car drive slowly past the house – but she does, strange, she thinks.

Nancy is walking home after work, she is dressed in a nurse’s uniform, the uniform of the red cross. She rushes inside clutching a piece of paper. Ma, m… and then she stops and listens, someone is playing the piano – her piano. She tiptoes to the lounge and there sitting at her piano is the man whom she rejected at the other night. She goes white and just as she rushes past the door, her sister Dorothy corners her.

‘

Ah there you are Nancy; you have a suitor who has come calling on you.  You didn’t tell us that you had met someone and one who plays the piano so well!’

 Nancy grits her teeth. ‘He must have followed us home the other night, how else would he know where I live? Tell him that I want nothing to do with him and that I want him to leave right now. I don’t even know his name and neither do I want to.’ And with that, she turns on her heel and walks into her bedroom, and shuts the door. She sits on her bed and opens the crumpled paper; it is a newspaper cutting. She smooths it out, it is a picture of her dressed in her nurse’s uniform administering a blood transfusion. The caption reads: Eighteen-year-old Nancy Wickham is giving one of the first blood transfusions to Josh Hamby. Nancy is one of the first nurses to be trained in administering blood transfusions. Dam him and his tinkering on the piano, she says.

                Thomas is taking her to the drive-in. Jill and Nick are in the back It is still light when they find parking, Thomas puts the speaker on the window.

‘We had better get something to eat before the lights go out,’ says Thomas.

  The boys get out, go to the food truck. They come back just before the movie starts. The radio stars crackling. The screen lights up – there are several adverts, a newsreel and then the film begins. Eerie music sets the scene (The Night of the Hunter) begins – it is a horror. Nancy doesn’t want to look. She covers her eyes with her hands when the killer is stalking his first victim – Thomas stretches, puts his arm around Nancy, and pulls her towards him. Then his mouth is on hers and he puts his tongue in her mouth, she is shocked, she has never been kissed like this before. She tries to pull away, but he pulls her closer and puts his hand under her top. She pulls away and hits him in the face. 

‘You stuck up little tart,’ he says. He opens the car door, gets out, and walks off.

Nancy is upset, Nick puts a hand on her shoulder and says that she mustn’t concern herself with him.

She is red in the face. Thomas returns about fifteen minutes later. He gets in the car but doesn’t say a word. They drive back in silence; she is dropped off first. Syncopation[CR1]  music is coming from inside the house. Nancy wants to scream. Her mother opens the door.  ‘Hello, you are home early, didn’t you have a good evening?’’

‘It was okay thanks Ma, I didn’t like the film and I am tired so I didn’t want to go for drinks afterward.

 Come and join us, he really seems keen on you. And Dorothy and Pauline have been entertaining him all evening, but it is you whom he came to see.’.

I am not interested in him or his music, I am going to bed.

It is Saturday, Nancy stirs in her bed as she hears the phone ring. The rest of the house is still asleep.

The voice on the other end of the phone says. ‘Hello Nancy, this is Nick, we met last night. I know that we didn’t have a chance to chat, but I would really like to get to know you better, I am not like Thomas. I have known him for a long time, but I do not condone the fact that he showed so little respect for you.

They walk through the beautiful park, they talk non-stop. Nick tells Nancy he is studying medicine, that he is Greek and that his full name is Nicholi Carross. He listens intently to Nancy when she tells him about her work and her family. At the end of the afternoon, he says that he would love her to meet his family.

He calls her the next day and the next and the next – they are an item. She is his girlfriend. And they are in love.

They are driving in Nic’s car. Nancy is wearing a pretty white and pink polka dot dress. She looks nervous, she keeps twisting the handle of her bag. They stop outside a mansion of a house. The lawns are perfectly manicured and different coloured flowers, bushes, and trees break up the expansive lawn.

Nancy looks at the house and the property, her mouth hangs open in amazement. ‘If you had brought me here first, I would never have invited you into my home. 

‘It is not the house that I fell in love with, but the girl who lives in that house, now come along, they are expecting us, Nic says.

The door opens and Nic’s mother welcomes them in. All the family is welcoming and friendly.  His father pours drinks, they ask about her work, her interests, and her family. They sit down to eat, the table groans with food. Most of which Nancy has never tasted before, but it is all delicious. The afternoon goes quickly.

‘Come again, you always welcome they shout in unison.’’

‘Well, that went off well, they really like you,’ says Nic.

Nancy is getting dressed for a date with Nic, but it is not just any date. He is taking her to one of the best restaurants in town. Evening dress is required. All afternoon she has been preparing for this evening. Her hair has been done up in a chignon, a glittering comb holding it together, her nails have been manicured and polished and she is wearing a long Prussian blue evening dress, square-front, low back. Her kitten heels and clutch are a muted silver, from her earlobes hang silver blue with small diamante dotted here and there.

The doorbell rings, her mother calls Nancy and tells her that Nic is here. 

‘You are a stunner’  he says.

The restaurant is smart and sophisticated, and a big band is playing all the tunes. They are shown to their table. It is set with the finest of linen and the table sparkles with the cut-glasses and cutlery.  The waiter brings a bottle of white wine, he shows Nic the label, after that the seafood cocktail is served. They dance, when they get back to their table The next course is served with red wine, they have dessert. Her cheeks are flushed, they dance and when they get back to the table a waiter is waiting ready to uncork the bottle. The band strikes up with ‘’Unforgettable’’. When Nancy turns around, Nic is on one knee beside her.

She is elated, she dances around and around as she hums to the music.

‘Will you do me the honour of being my wife, he asks Nancy.

Nancy is so taken back, she gasps. ‘Yes, yes, yes, she says.

Nic places a beautiful diamond on her ring finger, the whole restaurant claps.

She laughs and laughs she is so happy for Nancy.

They drink champagne, they have few dances. Then he says,’ would you mind if we popped in on my parents on the way home?’

'Noooo’, she exclaims, don’t go to the house – stay Nancy, stay.’ But Nancy can’t hear her.

They are driving, Nancy sits close to Nic, and he has his hand on her knee. They stop outside the house; they get out and go to the front door. He opens the door with his key and shouts. Mama, Papa, I have fantastic news. His parents come hurriedly down the passage.

She is biting her nails, ‘Go back to the restaurant Nancy,’ her words choke in her throat.

The parents greet her warmly and tell them to come and have something hot to drink in the lounge and then Nic can tell them his news.

Mama, Papa, he blurts out, I have asked Nancy to marry me, and she has said yes, and I wanted both of you to hear it first. Oh, it is the happiest day of my life.’

His mother pales, and his father looks down. ‘Will you excuse us please Nancy, his mother said, we need to speak to Nicoli.’

She is shaking, she wants to reach out to Nancy. 

Nancy is bursting to go the bathroom. She hears Nic’s parents shouting. As she comes out of the bathroom, she hears her name being mentioned. She stops and listens.

‘Nancy is a nice enough girl, as a girlfriend, but not to marry, Nicoli, we are Greek, you are Greek, you must marry a Greek girl’ she says.

‘Well, I am in love with Nancy, and I am going to marry her, he says.

‘If that is so Nicoli, then you had better find a job to pay for your studies, or you will have to drop your standards because you won’t be able to live the life you live now, and the ring you gave her was an heirloom that was given to you to give to a Greek girl. She doesn’t know our customs and how can you be married if you are not married in a Greek Orthodox Church?’

 She tells Nicoli, that she has a headache and would like to go home. They leave. She is quiet on the way home. And when they reach the house, he tells Nancy what his parents told him.

‘But I promise you that when I have graduated then I will marry you.’ She gives him a long lingering kiss, takes the ring off her finger, gets out of the car. ‘Nicoli, I will never forget you, and thank you for showing me the life I could have had. It will never work. Your parents will make it difficult for you even when you have graduated. Go and find yourself that Greek girl. She walks to the front door tears streaming down her face.

Nancy can hear the piano playing. Nancy has already had quite a lot to drink, but all she wants is another drink. Basil had brought a bottle of whisky with him.! He pours a tot for Nancy. She downs that and then has another, he plays, she sings – she has a beautiful voice.

There is a wedding. Nancy is the bride, a beautiful bride. Her husband-to-be is Basil.

‘Please, please don’t do it, it is not too late run’ she says.

They are in a hotel room, it is their first night together as man and wife she is nervous as she has never seen a man’s manhood before, she looks away, she has no idea what to do. Her mother never told her what to expect. She is sore with him pushing and prodding. He gets upset and says that he is going to the bar for a drink. He comes back in the early hours of the morning, smelling of another woman’s perfume. The next day, she sees him with a woman. She confronts him. He calls her names and says that it is her fault because she can’t give him what he wants.

They are on the train going home. Nancy tells him that she is going back to her mother. She takes a taxi home. She runs into her mother’s arms and tells her mother that she is not going back to her husband.

‘You have made your bed, now lie in it, her mother says.

Nancy has a son one-year-old son, she adores him, but Basil is jealous of the love she has for the baby.

‘You got so fat carrying that baby, but now that you have lost the weight, I want to show off my beautiful wife. You put the baby to sleep and make yourself look pretty and we can go out for two hours and the baby won’t even know that we have gone.'

‘Are you mad, she says, I won’t leave Errol on his own, you go if you want to, but I am not going with you.’

He hits her so hard that she falls back against the table, he storms out.

‘Errol is five, he runs to his dad to show him a picture he drew, his father pushes him away and tells him not to bother him. Errol persists and his father picks him up and gives him a bad hiding. Nancy intervenes and he hits her, on her back on her chest, and on her cheek. 

Errol is so excited he has just been chosen to captain the cricket team, he is waiting to tell his father, he knows that his father if going to be proud of him now. His father arrives late but Errol still waits, even though Nancy urges him to go to bed.  He runs to his father as soon as he hears the key in the lock.  

‘Dad, dad, I have been made captain of the cricket team,’ he said.

‘Oh, so now you think you are a big shot, said Basil, well I will show you what a big shot is!’

‘He takes off his belt and grabs Errol by the arm and hits and hits and hits. Errol is screaming, blood is dripping from his mouth, his nose, and his head. Nancy is screaming, he grabs Nancy and hits her, she tastes blood, but he keeps on hitting, then blackness.

She screams, she cries she lies on the floor banging her fist.

‘How is my mother, asks Errol.

‘I think that the doctor needs to increase her medicine, said the nurse. She has been hitting the air, then laughing, humming and dancing, crying and then screaming, but that’s to be expected with Alzheimer’s patients, they reminisce on events that happened many summers ago!

 [CR1]usic