Allie helps Glenn build a Road

ALLIE:
It happened the summer I turned sixteen. I knew about sex before that, so it is more accurate to say I experienced making love the summer I turned sixteen. In the mid fifties, knowledge of sex was everywhere, so the only way you wouldn’t know about it was to live in a convent and read nothing what-so-ever. I dated some during my freshman and sophomore years in school, and although the older guys suggested they teach me about it, I declined.

There were several reasons, not the least of which was a fear of getting pregnant, although I knew how to avoid that problem with reasonable certainty. I wasn’t really opposed to making love with a boy, but when I did I wanted it to be because I wanted to do it and not to let some horny guy get my cherry to brag about. A few of my friends gave in to their steady guys with the absolute promise that no one would ever tell. In less than a week the rest of the guys knew she was no longer a virgin, usually with greatly exaggerated claims of the conquest.

After my sophomore year, I got a part-time job in a little restaurant that was combined with a motel. I worked two hours during the breakfast rush and three hours during the dinner rush in the evening. I waited on customers and cleaned tables for minimum wages plus tips. Often I got more in tips than I did in salary. It wasn’t long before I learned that being a little extra friendly with the customers had a lot to do with the size of the tips. One of the older waitresses, Carmen, gave me clues on how to get a bigger tip but not get pawed in the process. Occasionally some of the older guys would put his hand on my bottom, but I would just roll away and make some kind of don’t touch comment. One day some guy got especially aggressive with Carmen, so she ‘accidentally’ spilled a pitcher of iced tea complete with ice cubes in his lap.

One evening, the owner asked me if I could come in at five in the morning instead of seven for the next month. He explained that a road construction crew had rented his entire motel for the month, and would be coming in for breakfast at five thirty. Their business would be a big boost to his income, so he wanted to see that they were served promptly. It could mean additional business every summer.

The guys checked in Sunday night, and came in promptly at five thirty Monday morning for breakfast. We already had eggs, bacon, toast and pancakes waiting for them. My job was to keep lots of hot coffee in the cups and tend to the little extra things the men asked for. By six fifteen, they were headed off to the job singing praises for the breakfast. Two guys in particular caught my attention, for widely different reasons. Pete was about thirty-five, with a kind of shifty look. Twice during breakfast, he put his hand on my arm and tried to pull me closer to him. I pulled away and from then on, I poured his coffee from across the table. The other one was a nice looking slender boy that I guessed to be about eighteen. All they guys called him “Virg.” He was quiet, but polite, saying thank you every time I got something for him.

That evening, they were back in force. We had dinner set up family style, with fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and vegetables. Once again, my job was keeping the glasses full and getting special requests for the men. Again, Pete tried to pull me closer to him, but I avoided getting within his reach. Toward the end of dinner as I was serving deserts, he reached out and patted my bottom

“Nice! Really nice!”

I thought about dumping a glass of water on him, but didn’t want to risk driving business away. I talked to Carmen about him, and she advised me to let her serve his area. As the guys were leaving, Virg smiled at me and thanked me again for my help, then quietly left.

“Hey Virg, you’re not going to change your name by reading and going to bed early,” the guys yelled as he left.

I wondered what that was all about, but let it slide. One by one, the guys wandered off, some asking where the nightlife was, and others were asking about bars, movie houses, bowling alleys, etc. The next morning, the guys came trooping in, loud and hungry. Things went well until Pete reached up and put his arm around Carmen’s waist pulling her against him. She pulled away, then turned to face him and said in a voice loud enough for the entire crew to hear clearly.

“Look you son-of-a-bitch, if you put your slimy hands on me again, I will bust a water pitcher over your thick skull!”

The foreman walked in just in time to hear the outburst, and quickly walked up to Carmen asking what the problem was. She simply said that he was pawing her and she wasn’t about to put up with it!

“Pete, we have been through this in the last two places we have stayed. What you do when you are on your own is your business, but when you are with my outfit you will behave, or I will fire you — after I break your stupid neck.”

I was serving guys at other tables, so only saw the incident from a distance. By coincidence, I overheard a couple of the guys saying that it was only a matter of time before Pete got what was coming to him. Virg said hi to me and smiled. I smiled back and asked if he had everything he needed. He nodded, but said he would take a little more water. I got the pitcher and filled his cup. Just as I turned away, I heard one of the guys whisper to Virg.

“I think she likes you.”

I glanced back just in time to see a bit of red creep up his neck. The boss talked to us about the incident after breakfast. He explained that the foreman had assured him Pete would either shape up, or he would run him off. We decided that the approach should be courteous service and strict hands off policy.

That evening everything went quietly. Apparently the foreman had talked to Pete and convinced him to lay off if he wanted to keep his job. Virg continued his polite requests, but after everyone else had left, he remained at his table sipping his malt. Once again he had turned a little red when the guys asked if he wanted to go to the bar down the street and watch the girlie dancers. When everyone except Virg was gone, I began cleaning the tables. When I got to his table, he asked my name. I told him then asked if his real name was Virgil. Again a little bit of red crept up his neck as he shook his head.

“My name is Glenn Nelson, Virg is just a name the guys on the crew tagged on me.”

“Why do they call you Virg” I asked

“Oh, it’s just one of those silly nick names the guys tag on you.”

“Why did they pick Virg,” I pressed

“No reason, just one of those things,” he said with a note of finality in his voice.

“Well, if you’re not going to tell me why the call you Virg, will you tell me how old are?

“Officially, I’m eighteen,” he answered, “but before you ask, I am really seventeen. You have to be eighteen to work on the crew, so that’s how old I am!”

“Why are you working with that rough crew if you’re only seventeen?” I asked in a friendly voice.

“Well, my dad died a couple of years ago, and I’m trying to help Mom take care of the rest of the kids. She says I can’t quit school to go to work full time, but Uncle Jim owns this construction company and he kind of arranged for me to work for him.”

“I’m sorry you lost your father, I know what it’s like, I lost my mom when I was only four, so I don’t really remember her, but still I miss her.”

“I’m sorry too. I’ve pretty well gotten over him, so now the most important thing is to help my mom,” he replied as he reached out toward my hand.

Just as he touched my hand, he jerked it back as if he had touched a hot coal.

“What’s wrong?” I asked a bit startled.

“Oh, nothing, it’s just that the foreman said he would fire the first guy that even thought about touching one of the waitresses,” he said sadly.

“Hey, Glenn, relax, I’m sure he didn’t mean a touch out of kindness, he was just talking about the kind of stuff Pete is doing. Besides, I’m sure not going to file a complaint.”

“Yeah, I guess so; I just can’t take any chance of not having a job as good as this one.”

“Say Glenn! Some of us were going to a dance at the Methodist Church in a little while; would you like to come with me?”

“What will your boy friend say about you coming in with another guy?” he replied seriously.

“I don’t have a regular, or even an irregular boy friend, so what do you say?”

“Sure, can you give me time to take a shower and be sure the foreman doesn’t have a problem with it.”

Shortly we were at the dance having a great time. He was quite good on the dance floor, and before long other girls were asking to dance with him. About ten he came to me and said that five o’clock came kind of early, so we needed to get back to the motel. I drove him back to the motel and dropped him off in front. Just at that moment, several other guys drove in and saw Glenn getting out of my car.

“Hey Virg, we gonna have to change your name?”

“What do they mean by that?” I asked. Glenn was beet red and just shook his head then thanked me for a nice time.

The next morning the noisy crew once again gathered for breakfast. I had asked Carmen to let me have Glenn’s table. She kind of grinned at me.

”Sure honey, no problem, he is kind of cute, isn’t he? That will give me a little more time to deal with Pete.”

For the next day or two, things went quietly. Well, not quiet, but there were no problems with Pete if you didn’t mind his leering glances at every meal. I took some good-natured ribbing about having gone out with Virgie. It was obvious there was an inside joke that everyone but I understood. Glenn asked if he could take me to a movie Friday night. I agreed, but only on the condition that we go “Dutch.” He agreed, so we made it a date. Friday evening, Glenn was late coming to dinner. I asked where he was, but no one seemed to know, he had come back with the rest of the crew. At that moment he walked, obviously freshly showered and dressed in nice clothes. By coming in late, he caught the eye of every man in the crew. Pete stood up.

“Hey Virgie, gonna change your name tonight?”

Glenn started toward him, obviously angry. The foreman caught his arm and said something to him that only he could hear. Glenn sat in his usual place, but was obviously seething inside. I could feel an underlying sense of tension in the crew, but shook it off as them being tired after a week’s work in the hot Texas sun. As soon as I had finished cleaning the tables, we took off for the movies. We sat in the far back row of seats watching the light romance. Glenn slipped his arm around my shoulders, and I snuggled up closer to him, basking in the warmth of his strong arm. After the movie, we drove to a quiet little cafe for a malt. By now, we were exchanging information about our families, school life, and other similar information. Once again I asked about the nickname, “Virgie.” Glenn turned red again but steadfastly refused to discuss it.

After the malt, I drove around town showing Glenn the places I hung out, and told him of things we had done. We drove down by the river and walked down the path to a little park where you could see the lights of town reflecting on the water. We sat on a park bench, and in an instant Glenn had his arms around me, pulling me close. I responded by kind of melting into his arms and pressing close to his body. Seconds later I felt his lips on mine in a warm soft kiss. I could feel my heart beating faster as his arms pulled me tighter and tighter. We kissed and cuddled for about fifteen or twenty minutes when I said I had to be home by eleven. I dropped Glenn off at the motel and kissed him goodnight.

The road crew was behind schedule, so they were working Saturday. I went in at five as usual, and by five thirty had the tables stocked with a huge breakfast. The guys came trooping in, but this morning, Pete came over to my section and sat by Glenn. Immediately he began needling Glenn.

“Hey, change your name last night?”

Glenn ignored him, and a couple of the other guys told him to cool it, but Pete remained obnoxious and loud. As I got closer, I realized that he was badly hung over from the night before. I tried to stay out of his reach, but as I was pouring coffee for the man next to him, Pete grabbed me by the waist and pulled me onto his lap, then grabbed one of my breasts and started squeezing.

I screamed and dropped the coffeepot breaking it into a thousand pieces. Simultaneously several things happened. First, Glenn grabbed Pete by the neck and pulled his chair over backwards, with me on top of him. In one swift movement Glenn struck a hammer like blow to Pete’s face splattering blood from his nose.