it was memorable. I remember my leg-consciousness, the accep- tance of cool breezes by my skirt, the vulnerability of my thinly hosed legs made me so aware of my being a girl for the evening. I remember, pleasurabily, Kenny's polite assumption of the streetside male role. I remember with a positive thrill his asking to call me Belle - he felt dumb calling me a boy's name and, any- how, if we ran into anybody it'd be less confusing.

(My hostess, that night, had said to me, "Well, you can't help but be the belle of the ball this evening.” So being called Belle confused ME less, too.)

Kenny said some satisfying things to me like, “...makes me feel grown-up, walking a girl home" and "Wish Andria could see me with you she'd be jealous” and still “.......'d like to take a girl who looks like you to the movies."

--

I murmured little, almost silent, "thank you's", surpressing encouragement. Halloween came only once a year. Darn it. Close to my home, Kenny blurted, "Would you like to visit my sister some evening? She doesn't like boys but I know that she'd like you I mean if you DON'T come over dressed up like a boy. I could walk you over!" (He LIKED the grown-up dating feeling I was also enjoying.) I felt free to "I'd love it” on that one I needed a real girlfriend after that nearly all-boy evening. So many questions had come up in my mind.

·

--

There was an awkward moment at the doorstep, as we said goodnight, but I covered it (graciously, as my curiosiy-peeking sister later described things) by shaking hands, touching only - really and with my LEFT hand. That seemed so much less "hearty goodole-pal" like

-

One thing Kenney said that evening that stayed with me..... "You know, Belle, when you first came to the party, all the guys were whispering and lookin' kinda mad, like they didn't like you." And I interjected a “Yes, but I thought that I was so....' and he continued, “That's just what the trouble and their talk was all about. They'd been promised it was a party for boys only. Just boys. Then you showed up, all....well, like you are. They thought for sure a girl would spoil the party, until they leaned who you were."

Them with a certain smugness (he was thirteen) - he said, with proud superiority, "They're all so young!”

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