The Star Group (6 page)

Teri was next. Standing behind the microphone, she pulled her speech out of her pocket and seemed to study it. But then she folded it up and put it back, her expression serious.

“I'm sure the last thing you all want to hear is another speech from an uninformed adolescent. I don't know anything about the economy or what our society needs to survive. I don't know much about the environment, either. I just hope we don't mess up this world so bad that it can't be fixed. I mean, I'm just getting out of high school. But what I do know is that I love a lot of people here.” She took in the whole audience for a long moment, and when she finally spoke her voice cracked. “And I'm going to miss them, miss their love. Thank you.”

We were all stunned by the brevity of her speech but then we burst out in applause. In seconds Teri had blown away Susan Meyer’s speech. When she returned to her seat, Sal gave her a kiss.

Jimmy swaggered up to the mike next.

From his walk, I should have known I was in trouble.

“Hi,” he said, “My name is James Yearn and my speech is short as well. In fact, I don't have a speech. But I do want to share something that happened to my friends and me today. Sal Barry and Daniel Stevens and I went surfing this morning, and as you might have heard, the waves are bigger than they've been in twenty years. Anyway, we were out on our boards when the biggest wave of the day rolled in. It must have been twenty five feet. It literally touched the bottom of the pier. Now Daniel had never shot the pier before, but something came over him right then. It was like he was possessed. He paddled into that wave and took off, standing up, his board aimed right at the pier. Sal and I thought he was a goner. The wave swept right over him, and we thought we'd soon be searching for his body. But what we didn't know was that Daniel had entered the greatest of all tubes. He had attained the highest state of nirvana that a surfer can reach. Only when he emerged on the other side of the pier did we know that by the grace of God he had survived and returned to us.”

Jimmy paused and smiled. “Now you probably want to know what this has to do with anything. Honestly…I don't have the slightest idea. It's just that it was so cool, such an impossible feat, and it was done by someone in our class, I just needed to share it with you. Also, I'd like to ask Daniel to stand and take a bow. Please, ladies and gentlemen, give him a big hand for either being the bravest guy in the world or the dumbest!”

I sat there petrified. The audience started to clap.

Gale poked me. “Get up!”

“No,” I mumbled. The audience began to stand.

Gale pinched me and hissed. “Coward!”

Calm descended from above. Perhaps Mentor came to my rescue. I looked at Gale and smiled. “One thing you should know about me, I'm not a coward.”

When I stood and waved, the audience exploded in cheers.

My class did likewise. Great final note to high school.

I was mad at Jimmy but grateful, too.

Jimmy called for our class to throw our caps in the air.

Five hundred blue birds flew for the sky.

I caught Gale's as it fell and returned it to her.

She kissed me on the lips and laughed.

“But you're not as brave as I am,” she said.

CHAPTER SEVEN

DISNEYLAND WAS COOL AT LEAST AT THE start. First off, the place was reserved
only
for graduating high school seniors and a few teachers that night, which I only learned when we got there. There weren't two dozen senior classes celebrating but several hundred. It was fun to walk around and see so many people all the same age. It was a warm clear night, with a half moon hanging in the sky. As Gale and I strolled up Main Street, we couldn't stop smiling.

“We're going to have a blast,” she said. “And I want to spend money on me. I want a Minnie Mouse T-shirt and a Minnie Mouse baseball cap.”

“I'm lucky my parents gave me money for graduation,” I said. ““You sound like an expensive chick.”

“I am an expensive chick,” She paused. “How much did they give you?”

“A hundred dollars.”

She waved her hand, “That’s not much.”

“For my parents it is,” I said.

She poked me again. “I was just teasing. I told I adore your parents.”

“Thanks. I wish I'd met yours.”

Gale was watching me. “They weren't there.” She didn't explain and I didn't ask.

“Really? That's too bad.”

“Did you know I'm adopted?”

“No.”

“I've never met my real parents.” She paused and her voice faltered. “Maybe they would have come if they'd known.”

I was hesitant to probe. I squeezed her arm.

We met Sal, Teri, and Jimmy as planned. They had told us they wanted to stop by Shena's house to try to persuade her to come. Then we'd all meet us in front of the Matterhorn. When we gathered, I asked about Shena, Teri shook her head.

“There was no talking to that girl,” she said.

Jimmy wanted to change the subject. He always did when it was about Shena. He asked how I felt about his speech. I hadn't had a chance to tell him. I shook my head.

“If I wasn't in such a great mood tonight,” I said, “I'd have killed you.”

“That means you owe your life to me,” Gale told Jimmy. “I put him in the good mood.”

“And how exactly did you do that?” Sal asked, smoking a cigarette.

Gale grinned. “I have my ways.”

The others howled, and I tried not to blush. But, of course, I failed.

We got in line for Space Mountain. Teri insisted on riding it before we ate anything—she said she didn't want to throw up on us. The line was long, but I didn't mind because Gale stood close the whole time. Then when we were inside the dark roller coaster and going down fast, she instinctively put an arm around my waist. I liked to think it was instinct, that she already trusted me.

We hung out in Tomorrow Land for a while and then made our way over to It's A Small World. It was the one ride I couldn't stand, but Teri and Gale seemed excited about it so I acted excited, too. Yet it was odd, in the middle of the ride, with all the smiling idiot puppets singing their repetitious song, I suddenly felt the same energy in my head and spine as I had when I communicated with Mentor. What was even more odd was that I had forgotten all about him since graduation. Maybe he was trying to tell me that our world really was small. Gale looked at me as the energy touched me.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

I blinked. “Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?”

“Your eyes are dilated.”

“It’s from staring at you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “The last four years?”

“That must be it.”

I noticed one of the seven dwarfs start to follow us after we got off the ride, but paid it no heed. I mean, I wasn't into dwarfs.

Next we went to eat at some fast-food joint. But because it was Disneyland, it cost as much as a fine restaurant. I was really glad my parents had given me money, my earlier vow notwithstanding. It was nice to be able to pay for Gale's food.

We met Mr. Ramirez and his family at the hamburger joint. His wife was so pretty that I could see how he stayed away from all the hot girls at school. His two kids, a boy and a girl, were sweet, their eyes sparkling with the night lights and excitement. Mr. Ramirez congratulated Teri on her short but emotional speech.

“I was touched,” he said.

“What about my speech?” Jimmy asked. He was asking everyone.

Ramirez shook his head. “It was unique. I think it must have taken as much guts to make a fool of yourself as it did for Daniel to shoot the pier.”

Jimmy nodded. “That was exactly why I did it. To praise Daniel and show him up at the same time.”

I noticed that the dwarf had followed us to the restaurant. I was going to point him out and ask the others which one he was, but he turned away when I looked at him. Again, I didn't give it much thought.

We headed for Pirates of the Caribbean next. Along the way we teamed up with Judy Farley and Cindy Converse. Both were cheerleaders and it was Cindy who had inherited Shena’s mantel as most beautiful girl in the school. She was an exquisite brunette with long brown hair and thick lips surrounding a sensual mouth. When Cindy saw that Jimmy was alone, she immediately started hitting on him and I was disappointed that Jimmy returned her affections. Jimmy and Sal were slightly drunk, I could smell the alcohol and figured they had put away a few beers in the parking lot. Sal could drink and maintain his dignity, but Jimmy got wild. As Cindy jostled close to him in the Pirates line, Jimmy pinched her side and bumped his head against hers. It looked painful but Cindy seemed to like it.

The two snuggled close in the back row of the ride. But I had other things on my mind – Gale squeezed up close to me as the pirates fought all around us.

“Are you having a good time?” she asked me.

“Wonderful. You?”

She pressed closer, staring up at me with her darling green eyes.

“It’s special to spend tonight with you,” she said.

I chuckled nervously. “We should have done this earlier.”

“You should have asked me out before.” She paused. “Why didn't you?”

A serious question. I told her the truth.

“I was afraid,” I said.

She liked that. “Afraid of little old me?”

“Not anymore.”

She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Good.”

When we exited the ride, with Jimmy and Cindy on much closer terms, I noticed that the dwarf was right behind us. I seemed to be the only one who saw him. I brought our roving band to a halt; I mean this dwarf was definitely trailing us. I pointed him out to the others and this time he froze.

“Who is that dwarf?” I asked. “He's been following us half the night.”

Teri giggled. “I think it's Dopey.”

“No,” Sal said. “There was no prejudice against white people in my house while I was growing up so we watched
Snow White
a lot. That's Sleepy.”

Jimmy squinted, his arm around Cindy. “I think its Shorty.”

“There's no dwarf named Shorty,” I said.

“There should be!” Cindy howled. She was clearly drunk.

I strode over to where the dwarf was standing. Naturally it wore a happy face, but its demeanor was anything but joyful. It lowered its head at my approach.

“Why are you following us?” I demanded.

The voice came out muffled, female. “Welcome to the happiest place on Earth.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said as the others moved closer. “Who are you?”

“Snow White,” the dwarf said, “The fairest in all the land.”

Jimmy lost his stupid smile and let go of Cindy. He should have guessed. I had. “Who are you?” he whispered.

Shena took off her dwarf head; it took her a whole minute. Jimmy aged visibly in that short time. She smiled at us as she shook her hair free, but it was a forced smile. The gang just stared.

“I have a friend who works here,” she explained. “She let me borrow her costume. I thought I would surprise you all.” She turned to Cindy. “Having fun?”

Cindy was no longer drunk. She edged away from Jimmy.

“I’ll catch you guys later,” she mumbled.

Cindy left us. Shena strode toward Jimmy and offered him her dwarf head to carry. He took it and seemed unable to look away from its bulbous black eyes. Shena kept her smile in place. She flashed it at all of us, the strained lips, the shaking teeth.

“Why don't Jimmy and I give this costume back to its rightful owner and we can join you guys in a few minutes?” she asked. “Where are you going next?”

We agreed to meet in our usual place, at the Matterhorn, in twenty minutes. Our group was now a lot less carefree. As we walked toward the ride Teri warned us that the sparks were going to fly.

“When we're in line I'll talk to her,” Gale offered. “I’m not as close to the situation as you guys. It might be better.”

“It might be better if we went to Magic Mountain instead,” Sal said, naming an amusement park fifty miles away.

“Jimmy shouldn't have been fooling around with Cindy,” I said.

Sal shook his head. “Who really knows what goes on between those two?”

We were about to get an insider's view.

The Matterhorn line moved faster than the one at Space Mountain. Jimmy and Shena had barely rejoined us when we were ushered into the bobsleds. But Gale did get a chance to talk to her alone for two minutes, and it seemed to do some good. Shena giggled as she jumped to the head of our group. Each bobsled held six, with our questionable couple in front. As the bobsled slowly inched its way to the top of the Matterhorn, it suddenly stopped. None of us was alarmed, rides halted all the time, and Disneyland had measures in place to protect people in case of equipment failure. Yet we were hanging at a precarious angle, our noses up in the air. And we were carrying volatile cargo.

Jimmy and Shena started to fight.

We didn't want to listen, but we had to.

“I wasn't making a move on her,” Jimmy hissed. “I was just being friendly.”

“You practically had your hand on her breast!” Shena whispered angrily.

“That's ridiculous! I did not touch her breasts!”

“Not tonight! What about last night? The night, before?”

“Shh! We'll talk about this later.”

“Later? What later? I won't see you later! You should be grateful, you won't have my ugly face in your face anymore!”

“Shena!”

“I am not Shena! Shena is dead!”

With that Shena squirmed out from under the computer-controlled steel bar that kept us firmly in our seats and jumped on to the side of the mountain, literally. Before Jimmy could stop her she began to climb up the side of the Matterhorn, toward a precipice from which it would be very easy to sky dive into Suicide Land. Jimmy was brave, he went after her and Sal chased after Jimmy. The scene would have been comical, the three of them swearing and running on the backside of an amusement park ride, but the angles and height had me worried. One slip, intentional or not, and one of them could die. Teri turned to me.

“Do something, Daniel!” she cried.

I fought against the steel bar. It budged slowly. Gale grabbed my arm.

“You're not going anywhere!” she exclaimed. “You can't help them. The park personnel will be here in a minute.”