A.R. Gurney

You know where this is? This is the out place on the back road where Charlie and Ted and I used to sell lemonade in the old days. I got a secret note from Charlie, asking me to meet him here, so here I am. I shouldn’t even be here. My parents would kill me if they knew. They think he’s bad news from the word ‘go.’ My mother thinks he’s worse than Ted, even. So, I had to lie to them. I told them I was going over to Janice’s to listen to the “Hit Parade.” Oh God, I’m lying more and more! Is this what it means to be a woman? And why is it we women are always drawn to such dangerous men? I feel like Juliet, in Shakespeare’s play of the same name. Who says this whole thing isn’t secretly about me? What a scary place this is, at night. Right around here is where Margie Matthews met that skunk. And here’s where Harvey’s dachshund named Pickle was run over by the milkman. If I had any sense, I’d go over to Janice’s after all. Anything, but stand around and wait for a crazy boy who’s run away from his own home! But I can’t let him down. I’ve got to stay. It’s my duty as a friend and neighbor.