Renée sat in the car silently staring straight ahead.  She was somewhat hurt, and slightly miffed at her boyfriends outburst.  She wavered from having too many thoughts running through her mind, to drawing a blank.

        “It’s clouding over.  Looks like it might rain.”

        “Uh huh.” Renee answered.

        “Well, as the old saying goes, April showers bring May flowers.” Tom hoped for a response.

            “Uh huh.”

            “We wouldn’t have been able to ride very long if it rained.  Dad always had a fit if we rode in the rain.  Not that he gave a care if we kids got wet and sick.  He was more concerned about the horses slipping in the mud, getting injured, and going lame.  Then they’d have to be put down before they could give him a good return on his money.  He’s a square, but he knows his business.”

            “Uh huh.”

            “What’s the matter?”

            “Nothing.”

            Tom released a sighing breath.  “Renée will you listen to reason?  I know what he’s capable of doing.  He’s done it to me all my life.”

            “What?”

            “Beat me.  Discipline, he calls it.”

            “Oh.”

            “I know what does to me, I don’t know what he would do to you.  Renée, nobody tells him no.  Nobody.”

            “I see.”

          “Renée, please forgive me?”  Tom begged.

            There was silence.

           Tom pulled into Renée’s parents driveway, turned off the car, and opened her door.  Renée stepped out; they walked to the door.  Her silence was killing Tom.

            “Well, if you’re not going to talk to me, I might as well go.  Shall I come by for you in the morning to go to church?”  Tom wondered.

            “If you want to.”

        Tom looked deep into her eyes.  He couldn’t read the thoughts behind them.  Leaning down, he kissed her cheek, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

           She nodded her head yes, and whispered, “Bye”   She went in the house, shut the door, went to her room, and burst into tears.

            Hearing her daughter cry, unleashed the motherly instinct in Marta.  “Hva er galt min datter?  Did you and Tommy have a lovers spat?”

            Renée scrunched up her face, and cried her eyes out while her mother hugged her, rubbing her back.  “All lovers have quarrels.  You must pay attention.  If you are quarrelling much, it is better to rethink the relationship.  If it is over silly thing, then it is best to forgive and forget.”

            “You and Papa never quarrel.”  Renée sniffled.

            “Yah, that is true , but that is because before Papa and I married, we had both eyes open.  After we married, we keep one eye shut.  Do you understand Renée?”  Marta moved the hair away from Renée’s cheeks, and wiped away a tear from her jaw.

            “Guess I am too immature, and stupid.  I do not get it.”  She was still sniffling.

            “Renée, you are not too big for Mama to put over her knee to give you a good spanking!  To not understand is not bad, but to call yourself stupid is not allowed.  That is immature!  If you do not understand, I will explain more.  Papa gets up early each morning to ready himself for work.  He shaves and leaves whisker stubble in the sink.  I do not like whiskers in my sink.  He does not put the toilet seat down.  He squeezes the toothpaste in the middle, then he does not put the cap back on the tube.  He wets the comb, runs it through his hair, then shakes the comb, splattering spots all over the mirror.  That annoys me, also.  When he reads the newspaper, he tosses what he has read, or what he does not want to read on to the floor, and often misses the ashtray when he flicks his ashes.  I could go on and on about the things that Papa does that are bothersome.  But, I love him, Renée.  I shut one eye so that I do not see the little things, because they are just that, little things.  If I did not, I would be complaining all day long until I sound quite like a nag.  I would then be grumpy with my children.  And, speaking of children, mama closes her eye to the little things they do, too.  I did not want to have unruly children.  I did my best to teach good manners, so they behave well.  At home you and Bjørn would dig in the dirt for hours.  It was easy to put you both in the tub, and listen to your tales of adventure as Vikings on the high seas that came ashore to search for buried treasure.  Sometimes it took longer to get the bath tub ring cleansered off than it took to bathe two filthy little children!”  Marta giggled at the memory.

            “Mama, I never realized that we made so much work for you.”

            “It is not work when you are doing it for those you love.  Too soon the Viking hats were hung up, and my children took their own baths.  I miss those days Renée, but life moves right along.  I see you grown, you get your periods, you are becoming a woman.  Someday you will find right boy.  Perhaps you have found him already.  Keep both eyes open.  If you can accept what you see, do not let the little things become big things.  Did I explain better this time.”

            “Yes, Mama.  I did not know Papa did all those things that bug you.”

            “Bug? I understand bug, but not as you use.”

            Renée giggled.  “That is American slang, Mama.  It means annoy.  I did not know Papa did so much to annoy.”

            “They are not big things, Renée.  It makes no sense to ruin a whole day with a man I love because I had to put down a seat, wipe a sink, flatten a toothpaste tube, put on a cap, and polish a mirror.”

            “It’s so nice to have parents that are still in love. I hear so much about their parents bickering when I listen to the girls at school talk.  One girl, Marsha Hendricks, said her parents are getting a, ah, um, a divorce.”

            “Oh dear!  Oh my!  Divorce is so bad Renée.  It ruins many lives.  I have not met Marsha, but I know who she is.  Her mother works in the beauty parlor.  When customers were known, she would talk about her, her love life.  She talked of her husband not satisfying her.”

         “You mean he doesn’t make enough money to buy the things she needed?”

            “No, Renée.  When they are intimate, he did not fulfill her desires.  That is sad.  She bragged of being pure when she married, but now she goes with other men.  It would have been much better for all, had she and her husband learned that they were not good for each other in lovemaking before they wed and brought children into the world.  This is very sad for their whole family.”

            “Oh Mama!  How awful.  Did she say she had relations with those other men?”

           “Renée, we must not spread gossip, keep between mor and datter.  Yes, and her husband learned.  I am sure that is why their datter is mean, and well...  I know Marsha has been on the car seat with Bjørn.  I have spoke to him about that, as I do not approve.  When young people are in love, and think that they would like to spend the rest of their life together, to become intimate is good.  One needs to know that their partner can satisfy the need we have inside.  Bjørn does not love Marsha.  He is using her only to satisfy his need, and that is wrong.”

            “But Mama, what about Marsha?  What if she is using Bjørn to satisfy her need?  She is not a very nice girl.  She made much fun of me before I got that stupid trainer bra.  It was Marsha that bumped me on purpose ruining Lydia’s beautiful dress.  And, she is fast Mama.  Before Bjørn, she first let Brad Hinkley put his ståkuk in her-”  Renée felt a quick stinging slap on her lips.

            “Don’t you ever say that word, young lady!  I will wash your mouth with soap!  That is a very bad thing for a good girl to say.  You can say without having that word come from out of your mouth.”  Marta was mortified.

            “Bjørn uses it when he’s talking about...”

           “Bjørn is a boy!  Boys talk differently than girls.  You were raised to be a lady.  Ladies do not talk of such things.  And, ladies do not talk about what is private when they choose to take a lover.  You are not to be ashamed of your body, but also you do not display yourself as in those magazines. They make what is beautiful common like road trash.  I’m sorry I slapped you, but you must never talk dirty.  You are not raised to be cheap and dirty, just because we are poor.”

            “Mama, I did not know the word was that bad.  I am sorry I said it.  When Bjørn used it, it sounded like a regular word.  I will never say it again.  I truly did not know.”  Renée was sorry, but truthful.

            “I am sorry that I lost my temper.  I never heard such a bad word come out from my little girl’s mouth.  Forgive Mama?”  Marta looked sorry, too.

            “Nothing to forgive, I want to be a lady that a man can be proud of.  Mama, how did you know?  How do I know when I have found the one?”

            Marta looked deep into her daughters eyes.  She was so young, but her eyes were asking from her soul.  “Renée, Mama had a nice boyfriend in the old country.  Olav and I had much fun together.  We were very serious.  We wanted to marry.  Renée, we did not move well together to make love exciting.  We tried, but there was too much friendship, and not enough passion.  We remain friends, and send card at Christmas.  I met your Papa months after when he found work in my town.  We dated for quite some time.  We would talk, and laugh, and play silly jokes on each other.  He asked me to a party with his company.  We danced for the first time at that party.  I knew then, Renée.  We moved so well at the dance, I knew with him it would be wonderful...  And, it was.  I will not share more of our privacy, but neither Papa nor I ever had another lover after we became one.”  Marta stared into Renée’s face.  “Are you thinking that way of Tommy?”

            Renée nodded her head yes.

            Marta bit her lips.  “Renée, you are very young.  Much younger than I with Olav.  I do not want you to give of yourself too early.  If Tommy is not the one, then you could be with too many men.  Too many men can mean that no one will want to take you to wife.  Please think carefully, and do not grow up too fast.  Papa and I love you, and do not want you to be a play toy so that you never know the love of someone special.  Tommy is a nice boy.  When you are older, Papa and I will approve.”

            Renée was happy that her parents would approve of an intimate relationship with Tom.  But, she also heard the word “older” loud and clear.  She did not want to tell her mother that she and her boyfriend had been active for three months already.  Renée thought of all the things Mama told her about not letting little things ruin a good relationship.  She was very sorry she had behaved so badly toward Tommy in the car.  If only they had a telephone, if only she knew Tommy’s number, if only she didn’t live so far from him on the other side of the tracks...  If only, if only, she would go running to his house and tell him how sorry she was for saying she wanted to give a nude drawing of herself to his father.  But, mostly she wanted to she was sorry for getting angry just because he wanted to protect her from the same misfortune that happened to their friend Lydia.

            Lydia turned into Tom’s parents driveway about ten minutes after he did.  Mr. and Mrs. Ericsen were thrilled to see her there.  They weren’t anywhere near as happy to see her as Tom was though.  He felt like an abandoned dog, not knowing what was happening between himself and Renée.  He hugged her and started to cry.

            “Tommy I need to talk.”

            “Yeah, I need to talk, too.”  He choked.

            “Where can we go?”

            “How about the movies?”  Tommy pulled himself together.  Lydia stayed for dinner with the Ericsen’s.  The dinner conversation revolved around idle chatter.  Tom’s parents were relieved when they asked if they could go to the movies.  They hadn’t seen Lydia in so long, they were getting suspicious that the pair had broken up.

          “Why aren’t you with Renée tonight?”  Lydia asked once they were safely on the road.

            Tom paused before answering.  He rolled his jaw a couple of times.  “Don’t really know.”

            “It’s okay, if you don’t want to answer you don’t have to.  Animal worked late at Seth’s.  Then he had to go to a family reunion in Griffin City.  They are spending the night at his grandparents.  He’s really excited about that.  I love his family so much.  I’m sure they have stuff going on too, but they are so cool with each other.  Him and his brothers and sisters bicker back and forth between them, but don’t let anyone else pick on one of them, or they have the whole family to fight!”

            They got popcorn and colas and picked a seat in the theater toward the front in the center.  Peyton Place fascinated both of them.  Lydia gasped out loud, and cringed burying her face in Tom’s shoulder during the rape scene.  He slipped his arm around her shoulder, and rubbed her upper arm.  Even though Tom knew he shouldn’t have yelled at Renée, he wasn’t sorry he put his foot down about her being around his father.  Rod’s father reminded Tom of his own, for being domineering, but Selena’s step father’s violence made him recall several of his own beatings at the hands, or belt of Ralph.  Both young people were silent when they learned of Selena’s pregnancy.  Tom noticed tears rolling down Lydia’s face.  He suggested they could leave, if the movie upset her that much.  She shook her head no, she had to learn what happened to the characters.  By the end of the movie, she hoped that Animal would love her the way Ted loved Selena. However, this was a Hollywood production, most movies ended with Happily ever after...

            Lydia could only hope.