THE DRIVE-IN

I saw  a posting on Facebook about the only drive-in movie left in NJ – where drive-ins were invented and memories of the “Delsea Drive-in” popped on my mental screen...the infamous “flickering passion-pit” that we called it in high school…

Ah yes..The drive-in.   A smoocher mecca. But not for me until I could drive.  But when I finally got my license I had no more excuses.  However, it was against the code of cool kids to just ask a girl to go to the drive-in on a first date.  So, I needed to have a first date with someone soon, very soon – but with whom…?  The hard part for me was the asking;  the fear of every teenage boy that she would say no?  What if the whole school finds out, Calvin struck out?  

I had my lustful eye on Sue D. who was a lofty senior and I imagined, light years of experience ahead of me.  She was the most famous “kisser” in her class and I was convinced that I needed to go out with “an older woman to learn the ropes” as they say.  Whoever “they” are.   

And then it happened without me even trying.  Sue’s locker was only a few yards down the hall in the land of Seniors and I passed her everyday as she chatted with her bevy of admiring girlfriends – I assumed to be giggling away at some romantic encounter.  As I walked by staring at her she turned and ran right into me, our notebooks flying.  She laughed and said, “Sorry Cal.”  Gads, she knew my name.  I astutely replied, “Duh, you know my name?”  And then regretted that lame statement immediately.  “Of course, everybody knows your name…you're a good football player.”  “Thanks,” was I all I could muster as my heart pounded faster than after running 10 wind-sprints.  “How come you have never asked me out?”  (For the first time in my life I now knew what it was like to faint – always wondered, but never experienced the sensation of seeing little pinwheels whirling before you)  To keep from falling over, I nonchalantly leaned on a locker the way I imagined  "Cary Grant" would lean against a locker.  And then I blurted out – “How about going to the movies Friday night?”

“Let’s go, I can break my date – he can wait a week! Let’s go to the Delsea, I like it there…”  As this sexy wild thing pranced off to class I was frozen in time.  Did she actually say the drive-in or in my current  state was I hallucinating?  The “late bell” rang me out of my stupor..  But being late didn't matter.  My best pal, Bub grabbed my arm and dragged me into our Spanish II class.  The rest of the week passed slowly as I replayed my Sue-chat in my head like a stuck record.  Bub let me borrow his ancient yellow car for the evening. He said it had a great back seat!  This made me feel faint again – fainting was becoming a regular event.

I worried about what was playing at the Delsea?  I hoped it was something romantic. And by serendipitous synchronicity or perhaps a favor from Aphrodite - “Splendor in the Grass” was the feature.  Just the sound of the title made my upper lip sweat. 

Date night arrived and Sue and I made our short drive to the outdoor picture playground.  The night was cool.  She was cool. My face was burning.  After paying my two bucks at the gate, I pulled into a parking spot in the farthest lane from the screen – this was Bub’s advice, he was a seasoned drive-in driver.  He informed me that no one could peer in our back window there  in case we needed some privacy - yikes I thought.  We walked to the snack bar in the glow of twilight and Sue picked the biggest tub of butter drenched popcorn; the large family box of  Good & Plenty – “fav movie candy.”   I had enough money left for a small soda and felt blessed she wasn’t thirty too.

Back at the car, as the distant screen came to life, Sue announced, “Let’s watch from the back seat, Cal…it is much more comfortable…”  At that moment, after experiencing a near fainting spell earlier in the week, I was sure I may be  having a cardiac episode as TV Dr. Ben Casey would call it.  We got into the living room size couch that Bub’s “51 Buick RoadMaster offered and Sue started to munch her moving watching snacks.  During the first ten minutes of the opening cartoon, Sue ate all the popcorn herself and started on those hard pink and white candies.  The feature began with its great theme music (which plays in my head to this day).

We both settled down low in our seats as I plotted just how I would make “the move”…how would Cary do this?

…Two hours later a car horn woke us both – we had fallen asleep and snoozed away the entire movie!  “Got to go Cal”…Sue purred.  I started the car and remembered, just in time, to put  back the speaker on its roost and wondered how many had to be repaired each week.  We drove home without a word said.   Sue just yawned every minute or two.  At her driveway Sue quickly jumped out of the car.  “It was great…thanks… see ya!”

We never went out again. My turn with her was wasted in dreamland but I learned a couple of important lessons.  One, don’t believe everything you hear about “Great Kissers”.  And two,  expectations when it comes to romance -  usually far exceed life’s realities.