'Til Death
By
Patty Padgett
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Patty Padgett
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DEDICATION: To my son Chip White and our dear friend Linda Tilley, my two most faithful supporters, my 'worker bees'.
PROLOGUE
Dixie Donovan Stone stood over the casket looking down at the man she had loved for most of her life. Her close friendship with the funeral director allowed her the luxury of these last moments alone with Benny. The room was still closed off prior to the viewing by family.
Her love, her Benny. William Benjamin Wilkes, Jr., but Benny to her. That was the nickname she gave him when they were kids. She came to say her goodbyes away from the questioning looks of his wife and four daughters. They hated her and had done so all of their lives. The wife, Peggy, had always been jealous of her and the daughters were taught by their mother to hate her as well. They would wonder at her need to say her private goodbyes and at her immense grief considering as far as they knew, there had been no intimate relationship between Benny and her for many years.
She never did anything to them. She was only guilty of loving Benny and having his whole heart in return, ever since they were teen-agers. Things hadn't worked out for them the way they had dreamed and planned. Fate, circumstances, and Peggy's own conniving, had worked against them. They had, however, made lives for themselves and managed to have some semblance of happiness over the years. In the end, they were even able to make each other happy, though short-lived.
She reached into her purse and removed a yellow rose bud. She kissed the bloom and placed it in his lapel. It was a flower that had become a trademark of sorts to the lovers over the years. She gave no care to the fact Peggy might wonder where it came from. Let her think it’s compliments of the funeral home; at this point, I really don't care what she thinks. As she touched his hands and caressed his cheeks, her mind raced back over the years and all the events that brought them to this place.
So many things they had gone through together, good and bad; so much love and so much hurt. It's amazing how many things can flash through a person's mind in such a short time but it seemed she relived their entire lifetime while she stood there.
BOOK ONE
CHAPTER ONE
DIXIE
She was twelve that summer, but her diminutive stature defied that fact. She looked every bit of ten and that was stretching it. A petite brunette, only four feet, ten inches tall, with the biggest, brownest eyes Benny had ever seen.
Her maternal grandmother had been of Greek descent and her grandfather a blonde, blue-eyed Swede. Dixie’s own father is Irish with some red-haired ancestry. All the boys in the family took on a variety of hair and eye colors but all the women had the Greek dark haired, dark eyed beauty.
“Someday, you’ll cherish the fact that people think you’re younger and savor the compliment,” her mother would tell Dixie when she lamented the fact that she was always taken for a younger age. She weighed only eighty pounds. She was used to such remarks as "What are you going to be when you grow up, a short-order cook, or a model for hood ornaments?" Once she even had a guy ask her if she felt like a cannibal when she ate shrimp. Or such remarks as "they fix flats down at the gas station", referring, of course, to the fact she was flat-chested compared to other girls her age.
Benny saw past all that, though. The first time he saw her, he was visiting with her brother. She was walking across her back yard with her pony tail swinging to and fro and her tan legs looking great in the white short shorts.
Her brother had spoken to her of a new friend but she paid no attention. He was a popular guy and there were always new boys hanging around the house. However, on this day, as she walked across the yard she couldn't help but look more closely. Something in her told her this one was different; she had an overwhelming desire to get closer and get a better look at him. She was on her way to take her turn at feeding and watering the family dog. She walked closer to him than she needed to in order to reach the dog's bowls and smiled at him as she passed.
A few feet away stood three other boys, also friends of her brother and always hanging around the house. Since she had five brothers varying in ages from ten to nineteen, boys abounded around the house. She had one older sister.
These three other boys were Virgil, Jack and Will. Virgil’s fondest desire was to own a funeral parlor. An odd occupation for one so young to desire, she thought. Jack and Will Bailey were brothers who lived a couple of houses down the block, aged fifteen and thirteen respectively. Their mother used to think she was funny when she would sing out loudly at suppertime "Will Bailey, won't you please come home?” The first time or two, they all thought it was funny but then it got old. It was the general consensus she was just ‘funny’, kind of kookie. Years later years it was rumored that she ran off with a vacuum cleaner salesman and never looked back.
Dixie noticed they were snickering and elbowing each other, sharing knowing looks. They already were aware of the fact that Ben had spotted her before she saw him and let it be known he was interested.
He walked right over to her. Normally he was considered to be shy but he seemed quite bold to Dixie.
“Hey, what kinda’ dog ya’ got?” He tried to sound casual but his heart was pounding. He could feel sweat trickling down his sides from his armpits and prayed he didn’t emit an odor. The weather was quite warm but his perspiration was more a nervous reaction than the heat. He surprised himself with his boldness.
"Just a m-m-m-mutt,” she stammered.
She was terribly shy with strangers and even more so around him that day. The other three boys were like brothers to her and she pretty much could be herself around them but right from the start it was different with Ben.
He, too, had brown eyes and a nose Dixie thought was too prominent. But, she thought, it lends character to his face and gives it a unique quality. His hair was brown and curly with one stubborn curl falling over his forehead. He was fourteen years old but to her he seemed so mature. His father was the wealthiest man in Wilkesville; the town being named for his family.
Mr. Wilkes owned a lot of land and several businesses. Among them were a barbeque restaurant and bar and a used and new car dealership. He also owned the newly built drive-in theater.
Ben had lived in Wilkesville all his life and while Dixie had heard of him, they had never crossed paths. Ben went to a private school during his early years but had recently transferred to public school and was in Randall's class. Ben and Randall became fast friends and Ben was starting to thank his lucky stars for that fact as he talked with Dixie. He sidled up closer to her in effort to prevent the other guys from overhearing their conversation.
“You sure are pretty. I didn’t even know Randall had a younger sister.” This came out before he realized he had even uttered the words.
“I – I, well … thank you,” she stammered. “I’ve never seen you before, either.”
“So, where do you go to school?”
“R. C. Justin High.”
“Oh yeah, that’s the new school they just built.”
“Yeah, it was named for Judge Justin, whoever he is. Some big judge in Savannah.”
The conversation followed along these basic lines while Dixie continued to pretend to focus on the dog.
CHAPTER TWO
THE TOWN
Wilkesville was a small town with all the typical small-town settings; local gossips, local people who had lived there all their lives. The barber shop, beauty shop, bakery, garage, florist, restaurant, drive-in theater; etc, were all owned by life-long residents. Newcomers were few and far between but were always welcome.
There were remnants of an old street-car track that ran along the front of Dixie's house between her house and the river. The street-car had long since been retired and now there were buses to take you to town if you had no car or just didn't care to drive into town and look for a parking place. The kids all walked along the old street-car tracks to get from one neighborhood house to the next.
It also led to an opening onto a main road at the end and that's where the gas station/garage/candy store was. That was the local hang-out where the kids all stopped after school for a soft drink and candy. Briars and brush had overtaken the tracks except for the paths woven by the local kids. The front of Dixie's house and all the others along the street-car line faced the river. The marsh was only about five hundred yards from Dixie's house, breeding mosquitoes that were really bad after a rain but the residents were used to them, it was just a way of life coping with them. That was the reason everyone had screened-in porches. It was nice in the summer time to sleep out on the big porches as long as the screen door wasn't opened too many times to let the mosquitoes in.
There was the typical town square where a gazebo sat in the center. It had white columns with honeysuckle vines encircling them. The paint had been peeling for years and even though its need for a paint job was discussed at every town meeting, no one seemed to be able to get around to repainting. There were various colored rose bushes planted in flower beds all around the edge of the square and along the paths. In the spring and summer, the square was a colorful and beautiful place. It was the site of nearly every wedding or any special event. Everyone wanted the gazebo, peeling paint and all.
Most important town events took place from late March through mid-October before the weather got too chilly to be comfortable. August, however, was a month most folks avoided as far as planning events. August in the South is a beast.
The town had its characters as all small towns do.
There was Sally Jane Crockett who never married. She always won the blue ribbon at the local fair for her cherry pies, pickles, jams, and quilt work and was very active in the community. She took full credit for her very existence; one would have thought she engineered her own conception and single handedly performed her own birthing process. No matter who helped on a project or whose idea a project was, you could count on Sally Jane to take full credit for it. Dixie always wondered, as did others in town, what kind of hell she would have put a husband and children through if she had had any. I guess the good Lord spared some poor soul that particular torture.
Artimus Critcher, an insipid little creature, was only about five and a half feet tall. No one knew his exact height since he slouched terribly, shoulders turned inward. He was bald on top with little sprigs of graying hair atop a balding head and in his ears. He scowled all the time and all the kids were afraid of him. He never had a wife anyone knew of. However, it was rumored that during his stent in World War II, he had married a German woman and left her there when he returned to the states and never sent for her. That rumor was never confirmed or denied to the few who dared to ask him. He ran the local garbage collection company consisting of two trucks.
Charlotte Ann Green who wore her dresses way too tight and too short was a regular feature at the local drinking establishment. There she would meet her next conquest. You could find her there almost every night looking for someone to warm her bed. She had married at fifteen and was a widow by eighteen when her husband was killed while attempting to rob the office of the car lot; shot by the night security guard. She was lonely and was afraid to sleep alone.
Mr. and Mrs. Alex Whetstone were the town drunk and socialite respectively. Mrs. Whetstone (Estelle) pretended her husband was a saint and tried to ignore and deny his sometimes public display of drunkenness. She was in charge of all social functions of the town and a gifted party-planner. Not the best business to be in with most functions having free-flowing alcohol. Her husband was sure to attend each and every one; wouldn't miss one for anything, much to her dismay. It really kept her on edge. They had one son, Alex, Jr. who liked to wear a trench coat around town and as soon as he was old enough, he grew a beard that he wore year-round. He seemed proud of it although if one had to describe it, the most flattering word they could conjure up would be “scruffy”. He liked to give the appearance of a flasher but there were never any documented incidents of any actual flashing. The Whetstones also had twin daughters born just ten months after Alex, Jr. and were the town brats. No one would agree to babysit more than once and most refused even that first time after word got out. When they reached adulthood they spent most of their time at a run-down road house entertaining the airmen from the nearby Air Force base. Mrs. Whetstone closed her eyes to all of that and in her mind, they were saints. She used all her social influences to try to get them married off to no avail. All the eligible bachelors in town knew too much about these particular young ladies to be interested in anything more than a good time. They finally were shipped out of town to visit relatives. No one ever saw them again except on rare occasions like holidays (and not many of those). It seemed impossible to glean any information as to their status or whereabouts. After awhile, no one cared.
The minister of the Baptist church was a prematurely gray-haired man who had a total of fourteen kids. He had been married twice, the first time yielding eight kids; the second time, six. There were nine girls altogether, Patience, Prudence, Faith, Hope, Charity, Chastity, Angel, Ruth, Joy, and Alice. The five boys were Paul, Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. The town folks said he obviously wore the first wife out as she died young, having a baby every other year.
The second wife had to have a hysterectomy after the 6th, and the general consensus was it probably saved her life. He would have gotten her pregnant every other year until menopause. The Catholic residents of the town even laughed at him as they were the ones who didn't believe in birth control and yet still had fewer kids than that particular Baptist.
Another colorful resident, and you can take that literally, was Lula Page. She wore brightly colored clothes that never matched, rode a bicycle around town and sang all the time, off-key.
A person had no trouble seeing or hearing her coming with her bright yellows, chartreuse, various shades of reds, fuchsia, bright greens, orange, etc and singing at the top of her lungs. She always wore a straw hat with different colored ribbons. She had a garden of colorful flowers year-round. She filled the basket of her bicycle with them to be delivered to any and every one who was sick in the area. If word got out that a person was under the weather, you could count on a visit from old Lula bearing a bouquet of her colorful flowers. She had taken on the job of maintaining the gardens in the town square as her personal crusade. Many an afternoon she would sit in the square and dare anyone to trample on or pick her roses. Her babies, she called them. She was a widow who had lost her husband during WWII and had never remarried and had no children.
Miss Sue Ellen Huntingdon was the owner-operator of the only Laundromat in the town. As a young girl, she had fallen hard for the president of the senior class, Rodney Prince. After much pleading on his part, she finally gave in to his sexual advances due to threats of losing him if she didn’t. Assuming they would marry right after graduation, she was stunned when he introduced her to his girlfriend at the graduation exercises. It seemed he had met this girl while visiting his cousin the summer before and they had kept up a long distance romance since that time. The new girlfriend had smiled at Sue Ellen and told her of their plans to go to college together and eventually marry. Apparently, the new lady in Rodney’s life was never told that Sue Ellen was anything more than an old high-school classmate.
When Sue Ellen was able to get Rodney alone for all of five minutes, he informed her the girl he married would be a virgin bride. Needless to say, this did disastrous things to her sense of pride and self-worth. As far as she was concerned, it was a classic case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t; you were a loser either way. She, therefore, assumed all men of any value would also have the same sentiments so from that day forward, she never let any other relationships go beyond a second date and decided never to marry. Spoiled or damaged goods is what she was in her own eyes and figured no man would ever want her. The pharmacist at Peterson’s drugs in town had tried in vain to court her but she always turned him down.
The local piano teacher, Marva Hampstead, lived next door to the church. She played the organ and piano every Sunday without fail and was a survivor of polio. She still walked with a limp. She was married to the local barber, Claude. They had one child, a son, who had gone away to college and never came back. It was rumored that he had gotten hooked on LSD and one day thought he could fly and jumped out of a fifteen-story window. No one knew for sure if that had really happened. His parents said he died of pneumonia. They did have a memorial service for him at the church although there was no body. No one ever knew what happened to the body. There was, however, a strange looking ‘vase’ on their mantle after that. Cremation was not a very popular option back then and a lot of folks frowned on it so if that was the case, it was never brought to light by the family.
Not to be outdone by the other residents of Wilkesville, the local sheriff had a few idiosyncrasies of his own. It was not uncommon to see him speeding through the streets of town around six-thirty in the evening with blue lights flashing. Everyone knew that it was past Ms. Martha’s six o’clock mealtime and she would give him hell if he was late.
It was no secret that Sheriff Billingsly was scared to death of Ms. Martha and her acid tongue. It was rumored that she had actually struck the sheriff on occasion.
His deputy was no prize either. He was about one hundred pounds overweight with double chins and big belly that hung over his waist-line. Had it not been for his holster hanging from what should be his waist, no one would ever guess that he was wearing a belt. He had such skinny legs protruding from a Mr. Potato Head body, one would have to wonder how the spindly little limbs held him up. The locals often wondered what kind of mirror he looked in every morning. They assumed it had to be one of those trick mirrors they had at the county fair every year. Whatever he was using as a guide or evidence of his prowess and allure was surely fooling him into believing he was a ladies’ man. He drove all the local single waitresses, store clerks, secretaries and anyone else within a certain age group, crazy. He was always sauntering up to them trying to get dates and doing his own awkward brand of flirting. God help any new single females who came to town. He was hot on their trail.
Dixie’s own family had a strange character too. Her Aunt Millie who fancied herself an artist was a skinny woman with overly large dark eyes and limbs that looked like the stick woman we all drew as a child. She imagined that her paintings were great and would someday sell but that dream never reached fruition. She was Dixie’s mother’s sister but she was the exception to the rule of the Greek beauty. Not only was she plain and underweight but she did nothing to try to correct that situation. She ate like a bird, never wore make-up and her clothes lacked any kind of style at all. In spite of all that, though, she managed to attract another artist, Frank Rand, and they married. Uncle Frank was a card. He was also tall and lanky with a long nose and big ears. Dixie’s dad had said when he first saw him that from the back view, his head looked like a taxi-cab going down the street with both doors open. Dixie always thought he resembled a parrot, the way his long nose kind of curled under. Aunt Millie made it clear that she had no time for kids; that she had to concentrate on her talent.
Despite the fact that there were several successful artists in the ancestry and in the present-day family members, Millie inherited none of the talent. She was the proverbial “cat lady” by the time she died. The family counted twenty-two cats and never were sure if that was all of them. They rounded them all up and took them to the pound. Millie’s husband had died a few years before her and she was only seen outside of the house on grocery day and did not encourage visitors of any kind. Elaine tried to check on her from time to time but she would never answer the door and refused to have a phone in her house.
“I don’t need all that annoying ringing all the time and people wanting to talk to me…..I don’t have time to talk”, she would always say.
Elaine would have to stand outside the house and wait until she saw Millie open the door to let a cat in or out or see her walk by a window to know she was still alive in there.
CHAPTER THREE
BACK TO DIXIE AND BENNY
"So your name's Dixie, huh?” said Ben.
"Yeah.” She kept her head down, bending over the dog bowl, pretending to be concentrating on the job at hand. The way he said her name was almost musical. It made her proud of her name for the first time. Her mother, Elaine, was Southern born and Southern bred and proud of it, not that Dixie wasn't. It seemed she was more proud of her Southern heritage than of her Greek ancestry. She took it to the extreme as far as Dixie was concerned, with the naming of her offspring. Dixie’s full name is Dixie Lee (after Robert E.) and her older sister's name is Katie Scarlett, after the in Gone With The Wind heroine. Needless to say, she had a brother named Robert and one named Beau, one named Rhett, one named Clark (after Gable) and then there was Randall. Not necessarily in that order. Randall’s middle name just happened to be Ashley. When Dixie heard Ben’s last name, she almost laughed out loud thinking how her mother would love that name, as in Ashley Wilkes, also of ‘Gone With The Wind’ fame.
"I’m Ben Wilkes.” When she didn’t seem particularly impressed with his name, he continued.
“My father owns the new drive-in movie and we can sit by the unused speakers and watch the movie for free; think your Mom would let you go over there with us guys Friday night?" His words came in a rush as if he had to say them quickly before he lost his courage. With this question, she became very indignant and forgot all about being nervous. She was a feisty little thing and didn't mind stating her opinion. Not only that but she didn’t really know what to say; she felt tongue-tied and the attitude was just a cover up. Dixie knew of all the things his father owned but decided to act dumb and let him brag a little. She knew he was trying to impress her.
"Well, Benny, a girl doesn't go places with a bunch of boys. Mama says that is not good for a girl's reputation."
This was the fifties, after all, and Elaine always made a big deal about the girls’ reputations.
"Well, excuse me....I was just asking if you wanted to see a free movie?" he retorted. With this, the tittering and snickering from the other boys grew louder.
“Besides, your brothers will be there too. They can guard your reputation and if you want to, you can ask one of your girlfriends to join us, will that be better?”
"Shut up y'all" she yelled at the guys as she turned around, flinging her ponytail as she walked back into the house.
Then, called over her shoulder, “I’ll think about it, Benny.”
As he watched her walk away he shouted, “And the name’s Ben”.
“I like ‘Benny’ better,” she yelled back.
***
Ben decided then and there no one had ever said his name so sweetly and he liked that she called him something different. It was like a special name just for her to use. From that moment on, he was Benny where Dixie was concerned. She was very curious about this guy who made her tingle at the very thought of him. She could barely make it through supper that evening for thinking about Benny. She wanted desperately to question Randall about him but was afraid of being made fun of. She kept staring at Randall during the meal, hoping he would say something. She had the feeling he knew she wanted to ask about Benny and he was holding out just to aggravate her. Typical Randall. She realized she never really gave Benny an answer about the drive-in. She held out until after they watched TV for awhile and when Randall was heading for bed, she decided to risk ridicule and ask about Benny. To her surprise, Randall didn't make fun of her but told her far more than she expected. She suspected he was doing it more for Benny than for her but she didn't care as long as she found out. I’ll bet Benny must have asked Randall to put in a good word for him.
“He’s really a nice guy, Sis. He’s a lot of fun and comes from a good family. He likes you and obviously, the feelin’s mutual. You could do a lot worse than him.”
“Will you help me talk Mama into lettin’ me go to the drive-in with him? Will you go with us? I’ll try to get Robin to go too.”
“Yeah, but you’ll owe me one.” He laughed as he swatted at her with the shirt he had just removed.
“Okay. I figured that.”
Dixie went to bed then and dreamed of Benny.
Her mother did agree to let her go with the guys since Randall vouched for Benny. Also, Dixie had asked her best friend, Robin, to come over to spend the night and accompany them.
She knew Robin would jump at the chance since she had a crush on Randall.
Elaine knew Dixie would be safe and the drive-in was walking distance from their house. She had already met Benny’s parents at church and knew they practically owned the town. She had heard how they raised their kids; not at all like the proverbial spoiled rich kids.
Of course Dixie had always heard of the Wilkes family. You couldn’t live in Wilkesville and not know of the family the town was named for. But knowing of them was different from knowing them.
Up until now, Dixie had never laid eyes on Benny although she had overheard some of the older girls from another school discussing whether or not to invite him to a school dance. She didn’t think much about it at the time and in fact, forgot about it until she actually met Benny. Then she wondered why she hadn’t been more curious about the fellow they were discussing. Being as boy crazy as everyone said she was, you’d have thought she would be curious as she kept up with all the eligible young lads in town...or so she thought. She couldn’t believe she actually let one slip by her and the main one at that, as it turned out.
Benny was not spoiled, he worked for his father in the various businesses and earned a new car after he turned sixteen although he had been driving around town before that.
He obeyed the driving rules and the local law enforcement officers were friends of Big Ben's and said nothing about it. His parents were really strict on him as far as where he went and who he went with. He was expected to work at his dad's car lot and really didn't have a lot of free time to mingle with the kids in town. He had two brothers and a sister who also worked in the family businesses after school and on week-ends.
None of them were close enough to Dixie’s age to be involved in anything she was in. However, she did see his sister at Sunday School sometimes and only knew her in passing.
His visits to Dixie's house were rare at first but after he really got interested in her, they became more frequent. Dixie never did know how he managed that with homework and his after school job. Benny would have done most anything to be around Dixie as often as possible. He stayed up late doing homework and most of the time when he went over to Dixie’s, he was supposed to be running errands for his father.
Benny's older brother James had attended the local public high school and had met Dixie's older sister Katie there when they were seniors and they dated some but no one thought it was serious. When Katie went off to college, there was not much mention of James although unbeknownst to all of them, they kept a relationship going via mail and phone calls and on that first Christmas vacation from college, they dated every night. To everyone’s surprise, he gave her a ring on Christmas Day and they announced that they were to be married. Of course, James had a job managing his father's restaurant by that time and did o.k. as far as money and Katie intended to finish her studies, so their respective parents agreed to the marriage.
It was a simple ceremony the following May. Big Ben was James’ best man and Dixie was Katie’s only attendant. They moved into a small apartment. When James went out of town on buying trips for the restaurant, Dixie would spend the night at their place to keep Katie company and she and Katie became closer during those times than they had ever been at home. Benny was over there as often as possible under the guise of protecting his brother’s wife in his absence but he didn’t fool anyone as to his real reason for hanging around.
After Katie graduated, she got a job as a social worker. She wanted to get some experience dealing with problem children before she hung out her shingle as the town’s only child psychologist. She and James used to pick up Dixie and Benny and take them to the drive-in. They really thought they were grown-up sitting in the backseat of James' Ford Fairlane pretending they were on a double date. They also spent a lot of hours over at James’ and Katie’s apartment playing Canasta and on occasion, James’ and Benny’s other brother, Larry and their sister would join them. They all got along very well and Dixie realized she liked Benny’s siblings more and more even though she didn’t see them very often. This went on, off and on for three years.
Over those same three years, the Bailey boys moved away but Virgil was always hanging around. He was like a brother to both Randall and Benny. The three of them were inseparable when Benny wasn't with Dixie.
Virgil started hanging around the local funeral parlor about that time and would bring back stories to tell Dixie and the boys. Dixie thought they were horrible, but Virgil thought his experiences were great and the other boys hung on every word. After all, this is what he planned to do for a living.
Well, I guess somebody has to do it.
A few of the times in the three years that ensued, a new girl would move to town and catch Benny's attention but not for long. He always went back to Dixie. It was the same with Dixie. With all the boys constantly hanging around the house, she would have a crush now and then on this one or that one, but it was always Benny she fell back on. She never had the same feelings for the other guys that she had for Benny. From the very beginning, her feelings toward him were special.
At the age of fifteen, Dixie's parents thought it was time for her to start dating as long as it was a double date, preferably with one of her brothers. As much as they thought of Benny, they felt Dixie should date others and was much too young to be serious and settle on one. Dixie agreed as she wanted to date other boys. When she told Benny of this, she explained that it was a sensible thing to do and then when the time was right, they would get back together again and get married, when they were older.
They had been to her first formal high school dance. She wore a made-over gown that had belonged to her sister. It was pale yellow net over satin, tea-length, fairly simple in design. Benny gave her wrist corsage made of yellow rosebuds. Roses were her very favorite and she thought that was the prettiest thing she had ever seen. He wore a single yellow rosebud in his lapel.
They had parked and began some heavy petting until Dixie called a halt.
“Benny, we can’t do this. Let’s just go. This is dangerous.”
“Aww, Dixie, we’re just kissin’.”
“Yeah, that’s how it starts, you know.”
“Well, it’s not like we’re not gonna’ to get married anyway.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to have to get married.”
“I’ll use protection, you won’t get pregnant.”
“That kind of thinking is what gets kids in trouble, Benny”
He took her home but the scene was repeated several more times. Same old argument every time they were together.
“Benny, I definitely think we should date others, just for a while.”
“I don’t get it, Dixie.” He couldn’t help but laugh as he added, “I mean, literally, I ain’t gettin’ it.”
“Well, if you’re goin’ to make a big joke of it, you can just take me home. I’m serious.”
“Aw crap, Dixie. We don’t have to do anything. I won’t pester you to have sex. I don’t think we have to completely break up just to keep from it. We can control it.”
“Benny, we’ve almost slipped up on too many occasions as it is. And we’re not completely breaking up. I never want to do that. We’re just taking a break, that’s all.”
“Well, it makes no sense to me. What’s the big deal anyway? We can use rubbers and if you did get pregnant, you know I’m gonna’ marry you. That’s our plan, anyway, to get married. It just might happen sooner, that’s all.”
“Benny, you don’t even make sense. In one breath you’re sayin’ you won’t push me to go all the way and in the next breath you’re sayin’ we can use rubbers and get married if they fail. Make up your mind.”
“I’m just sayin’, I won’t push you but if things were to get out of hand like they almost have, I’ll have the rubbers handy.”
“We’re gettin’ nowhere with this. I am not going to change my mind about dating others, just for a little while.”
Dixie had read enough of Katie’s “True Romance” magazines to know the hardships young girls suffered when getting pregnant and having to marry or give up their babies. It terrified her to think it could happen to her.
She knew the girls in the stories were not bad girls. They were just girls who got innocently caught up in the heat of the moment or were goaded into it by their boyfriends.
It took several arguments about dating others before Dixie finally convinced Benny that their constantly being alone and heavy petting had reached the danger point and they really needed to take a break. Dixie and her mother had discussed "going all the way" and her mother would always use the same old phrase each time they discussed it…Boys are made to insist, girls are supposed to resist. Dixie was very close to her mother and didn't want to take a chance on disappointing her by getting into "trouble.” In the Fifties, it was still frowned upon strongly. She was allowed to date Benny without it being a double date because he was considered a "member of the family" and was trusted by Dixie's parents but Dixie couldn't trust herself with Benny.
She didn’t fool herself, though, or her friend, Robin. They both knew a part of Dixie wanted her freedom to date other boys. She would be popular and enjoyed the way it made her feel.
So, she and Benny agreed to date others for awhile and see how things went.
She heard rumors that he had been seen with Charlotte Ann Green even though she was much older than him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know why he was with her.
The local newspaper delivery boy caught Dixie's eye and she started getting "spruced up" as her mother called it, every afternoon around the time the evening edition of the paper was delivered. At that time, there were two newspapers in the nearby city; one delivered in the morning and one in the evening.
Some folks chose between the two but others took them both. Dixie's parents, however, chose the evening edition and Dixie was glad of that when she spotted the cute delivery boy. His name was Danny. He seemed to enjoy the fact that Dixie was sitting on her back steps every afternoon, hair combed and light pink lipstick on, looking cute as a button.
This little flirtation went on for awhile while Benny dated other local girls, including the Baptist minister's daughter, Prudence and one of the Whetstone twins.
Danny finally got around to asking Dixie out and since it was to be a triple date with a couple of guys that Dixie's brothers knew and their dates, she was allowed to go. They dated a few times and one night he asked Dixie out to a movie.
“I’m sorry, Danny, but I am going to a church wiener roast down at Fort Screven with my Methodist Youth Fellowship group.”
“Okay, how about next week-end, then?”
“I’ll see, call me next week or just stop by when you deliver the paper.”
She could have invited Danny to the wiener roast but there was another guy who had just joined her church group she sort of had her eye on and she was hoping he would be there.
He was there, as it turned out, and he and Dixie talked a lot and sat beside each other to eat. They had ridden to the beach in the back of a pick-up truck as a group but when they got back to the church, the new guy, Cal, asked if he could drive Dixie back to her house. One of her brothers had dropped her off at the church so she was glad for the ride home.
When Cal and Dixie turned in at her street, she saw a car parked at the curb a few houses down but didn't give it much thought. As it turned out Dixie would give it a lot of thought the next day when the whole town was buzzing about it. It had been Danny in the parked car.
He had gotten it into his head that Dixie had lied to him about there being a church function and thought she just had another date. When Cal dropped her off and started back down the street, Danny followed him to the local hang-out for the male species of Wilkesville. There, he proceeded to pick a fight with Cal. Dixie's older brother had to step in.
"If you want to kick Cal's ass, go ahead, but leave my sister's name out of it.”
The next day, everyone she saw, especially the guys, teased her about it.
"Hey Dixie, we saw your boyfriends last night, hashing it out over you,” and other remarks along the same lines. She was so embarrassed. Cal never asked her out and she refused to see Danny again.
The local Teen Club was the main source of entertainment and dating for those too young to actually go on dates. Even after arriving at the dating age, it was frequented by the boys who had no jobs and girls who had no dates. The town mothers supplied the refreshments so it was a way to stay out of trouble, meet the opposite sex, have a good time and spend no money. At the teen-club dance one night, Benny and Dixie danced together a few times though they did not go to the dance together.
“I’ve missed you, Dix. I was hoping you’d be here tonight, although I’m surprised you didn’t have a hot date.”
“How do you know I didn’t? How do you know I didn’t come here with a date?” She tossed her head in a haughty manner.
“Because I’ve been watching you since you came through the door. I know you didn’t. Why don’t you admit that you’ve missed me too?”
“Okay. I have. But you know how I feel about things gettin’ too thick with us. It’s dangerous.”
Even after the admission of having missed him, Dixie was adamant that she wasn’t quite ready to go steady again. She still wanted to date Benny or maybe even to keep him on the back burner but she felt she had many other fields to explore. After all, she was still a vibrant young girl with so much of life ahead of her. Smugly, she felt Benny would be around when she was ready to settle down.
Years later she would realize that she was spoiled when it came to Benny and figured no matter how far away she pushed him, he would always return. Robin once referred to him as Benny the Boomerang. Dixie was just a little too complacent and overly confident when it came to him. She took him for granted; there was no other way to describe it.
After a few dances with Benny and a couple of dances with a few others, she excused herself and looked for Robin and they went to the restroom together. When they were entering the restroom, they were laughing. Peggy, the new girl in town, had preceded them into that room. When she recognized Dixie’s laugh, she quickly shut the stall door and pulled her feet up where she couldn’t be seen and listened.
“Hey Dix, I saw you and Ben cuttin’ a rug out there and during the slow dances, y’all sure looked serious. Is there somethin’ you want to tell me?”
“No. We only danced a few dances, Robin; don’t make a federal case out of it. You know I’ve been wantin’ to meet that new guy, Dean. When we go back out there, I’m gonna’ ask him to dance. I’m not ready yet to devote myself strictly to Benny.”
Robin loved Dixie dearly but her fickle ways were something she just could not understand. She was constantly admonishing Dixie for it.
“God Dixie, you treat that boy so bad, you keep his head so screwed up. But he lets you do it to him ‘cause he’s so crazy about you. Girl, you are so lucky.”
“Yeah, I am lucky. There will be time for Benny and me after we grow up a little more. We don’t need to be that serious right now. Right now we both just need to be young and have fun.”
“Well, one of these days, you’re gonna’ pay for your fickle ways. Ya’ better wake up and smell the coffee.” Robin shook her head in frustration. Little did either one of them just how dearly Dixie would pay.
After they left, Peggy walked out of the restroom on a cloud. As far as she was concerned Dixie had just declared open season on Ben and she was the one who was going to bag him.
By the end of the evening, after a few dances clumsily orchestrated by Ben who was definitely not a good dancer, she had conned him into giving her a ride home.
Dixie had asked Dean to dance and they danced the rest of the night together.
The next time Benny approached her to ask her to dance; Dixie told him that he should pursue the new girl, leaving her free to enjoy the company of Dean.
“Go ahead Benny, she seems to be smitten with you. Give the girl a thrill. ” She laughed and kissed him on the cheek and walked across the dance floor to where Dean was waiting.
“C’mon Dean, dance with me,” she said with those big brown eyes sparkling and perfect teeth flashing as she smiled at him.
Dean was a goner for sure after that and she was really taken by his good looks and ready smile.
Benny was very hurt by being put off by Dixie. He felt like she was just pushing him aside to wait for her to decide that she wanted him again. He was getting very tired of this game. He decided he would indeed pursue the new girl to make Dixie jealous.
CHAPTER FOUR
Benny hadn't wanted to go to the dance that night but on the off chance he may run into Dixie, he decided to go after all. He was ready to tell Dixie he was tired of playing her little game and wanted them to get back together. But by the time the evening was over, he was giving Peggy a ride home. He still didn't know how it happened but the more he thought of it, the more he decided to teach Dixie a lesson and not go running back to her.
So as the days went on, he got to know Peggy better and took her out as often as he could get the time. It was obvious to Benny and to anyone with half an eye that Peggy was head-over-heels in love with him. This was quite the ego trip for him, having two girls who cared for him. What Benny didn’t know was the fact that Peggy had seen him standing outside the car lot office one day and had asked around town. She went to the dance that night for the sole purpose of meeting him. She didn't know for sure he'd be there but she was willing to take that chance. She would keep going until she got lucky. Luck was with her. He was there.
Even though Dean and Dixie seemed to hit it off instantly at the dance, Dean had to leave town a couple of days later to go and help his father, who lived in another town since he divorced Dean’s mother. His father had become ill and was trying to close his business and Dean had to go and help. He didn’t call or write to Dixie and after a couple of weeks, she assumed he would never be back.
Benny’s younger brother began calling her around that time. He was a year younger than Dixie but wasn’t dating anyone nor did he even seem interested in anyone.
I guess he just wants someone safe and comfortable to be with, sort of like a sister to help him get his feet wet in the dating pool. Those were Dixie’s thoughts when he called that first time.
“Hey, Dixie, why don’t you and me go to the drive-in or somethin’,” he asked on the first phone call.
“Well, I guess we could do that sometimes.”
Dixie thought it quite odd that he would call but just assumed Benny may have put him up to it. He did become quite insistent, calling almost every day, until Dixie finally agreed to a local drive-in restaurant for a burger and coke.
The whole time Dixie was with Larry, she waited for him to bring up the subject of Benny. She felt he may be on a fishing expedition for Benny. He never mentioned him, much to her chagrin. When he tried to kiss Dixie, she felt very uncomfortable and avoided him after that.
After about three weeks, Dixie sent word by Virgil who was, by that time, working part-time with Benny at the car lot. The message was that she was ready for them to get back together.
“Virg, you have to tell him that I want to get back together and tell him how much I still love him. Plead my case for me, you know we belong together. I know you can convince him.”
Virgil didn’t deliver the message right away, though. Dixie needs to be taught that she has to wait for some things. She can’t just snap her fingers and have everything her own way. At least that’s the excuse he gave himself and later to Dixie.
When she hadn’t heard anything from Virgil or Benny in three days, she called Virgil.
“Did you tell him, Virg?”
“Not yet, but I will. When are you going to learn that you can’t just snap your little fickle fingers and get what you want?”
“God, you’re startin’ to sound like Robin.”
“Well, Robin’s your best friend and I’m your friend, too. We’re just lookin’ out for ya’. You should treat Benny better. You know, you could lose him.”
“Oh, Virgil, you know we’ll get married one day. I wanted to take a break but now I miss him more than I thought I would. Are you gonna’ tell him or not?”
“I’ll talk to him today. You know he’s been going pretty hot and heavy with that Peggy, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t scare me. I know he’ll come back to me. You just have to let him know I’m ready.”
“Why don’t you call him yourself and tell him?”
“I could, but it will sound better if you tell him how sad I’ve been without him and that I’m sorry I let him go. That way I can hang to my pride,” she chuckled.
“You know what I think? I think you’re not as sure of him as you claim to be and you’re afraid he’s going to turn you down. That’s why you want me to do it.”
“So, what if you’re right about that? No one wants to be told to their face that they’re not loved anymore. I can’t believe that could possibly be the case, though. You find out and tell me.”
Virgil did a lot more grumbling about the whole situation but finally gave into Dixie’s wishes. It was hard to deny those big brown eyes anything.
***
Despite plans to the contrary, Benny was drawn back to Dixie. He wanted to make her beg, to keep her hanging on like she had done to him so many times but then decided that this game playing had to end somewhere. Besides, he missed her so much, he ached. He vowed that this time he wouldn’t let her go. He hated himself for giving in but he hated even more leading Peggy on when his heart was with Dixie. So, he called Peggy and told her he couldn't get out that night and he went and picked Dixie up and they went to the drive-in.
He arrived at Dixie’s house with one yellow rosebud. The sight of it brought tears to her eyes. Over the course of the evening, he had guilt feelings about Peggy but at the same time, his elation over being with Dixie again pushed those feelings completely out of his head.
He and Dixie had a wonderful evening and missed most of the movie while they petted and talked. Things did get steamy but Dixie explained that she wanted to wait until they were married and they would do that as soon as she graduated. She still had over a year of school. Benny was so aroused by that time he could scream but he was always considered pretty level-headed for the most part and decided not to rock the boat. He figured once he got Dixie to trust him more and they spent more time together and didn't date anyone else, things would change for them. Right then, he would just suffer it out. He wanted sex from her but he wanted much more. He wanted a life with her and he would wait if that's what it took.
Dixie was pretty much aroused by that time also and wanted more than anything to give in but common sense prevailed. She felt like if she just kept talking and planning, she’d be able to keep her senses about her.
“Just think Benny, Mama will make me a beautiful wedding dress and, of course, Robin and Katie will be my attendants. We can get married in the gazebo on the square. Everything will be perfect for our wedding and our honeymoon.”
Benny just more or less nodded a silent agreement to most of what she said. His mind was definitely not on wedding dresses or gazebos. His mind was still foggy with passion and he was caught totally unaware when she suddenly changed the subject from them to Peggy.
"Benny, do you promise that you will not see Peggy anymore?" Dixie asked breathlessly, still aroused from their most recent kiss.
"Why would I want to now that I have you back?”
"Did you ever really like her that much?” She probed. She had to know.
"She's nice and has never hurt me and yes, I like her but I do not love her.”
Dixie caught the "has never hurt me" part and wondered if he meant to emphasize it since she had hurt him on more than one occasion.
“Why did you just date her? We were supposed to date others, not get into a relationship with one.”
“Everyone is not as fickle or as popular as you are. I didn’t have a whole lot of choices. I’d already dated a few of the locals and didn’t care that much for them. Most of them were your friends, anyway. Besides, you know how I am about pickin’ up strays. Peggy seemed to need someone to care for her and take her places. She was not popular, either. I just wanted to be nice to her.”
After Benny took Dixie home, she sat at her window looking out at the stars and wondering if things would really work out for them the way she had it all planned in her head. I will graduate from High School, get officially engaged to Benny, have a big wedding with Robin and Katie as my attendants and maybe a couple of other girls, go on a fantastic honeymoon, Big Ben would give Benny a raise and we will start to have babies right away.
Only a teen-age girl would be naïve enough to think there was truly a fairy tale type “happily-ever-after.” This was a fact that Dixie was to learn in the ensuing weeks.
Over the next week, Dixie was busy with school work, finishing up final reports and studying for final exams.
The Junior-Senior Prom came up and she and Benny double dated with Robin and her new boyfriend, Tom. It was a special night and things went smoothly; no sexual pressures or anything to mar the beautiful event. Elaine took pictures and Benny brought Dixie a pink rosebud corsage to match the pink rosettes on her gown. It was a most memorable evening; one they would remember for many years to come.
She expected to see Benny on the following Friday night but he called and said he had something he had to do for his father. Dixie was disappointed but filled the evening by spending the night with her best friend since the fourth grade. Robin was free that night as her boyfriend had to work. Robin and Dixie had been inseparable since they met in grammar school.
Robin had started dating a guy from another school who was a couple of years older and they double-dated a lot with Benny and Dixie or whoever Dixie was dating at the time. Robin told Dixie she couldn't keep up with her and Benny's on-again, off-again relationship.