Waltz of Her Life

Linda's cheekbones heated up with her embarrassment. "Well," she began, "you've all got long hair, which is one strike, and you're wearing leather jackets. That's another strike."

Mike shook his head. "Leather is the only thing you can wear on the road," he said. "If you wear cloth it whips all around your chest. Feels like shit."

"Yeah, well, my father isn't the most open minded person on the planet," Linda said. "Actually, he's kind of like Archie Bunker."

Seth tenderly stroked Linda underneath her chin. "So are we just going to stand here on this parking lot, go somewhere, or what?"

Linda realized they must look fairly silly just standing there. "Well, are you hungry?"

The guys looked at each other, and in comical unison said "Hell yes!"

When they hit the Big Boy in town, Linda sat beside Seth in the booth. As the waitress arrived with menus, she remembered it would be a good idea to tell her parents what happened. She searched for a quarter in her purse and used the pay phone near the front cash register. Her mother answered. "I caught up with the guys on the other side of Villard Avenue."

"Where are you?"

Linda told her about stopping at the restaurant. "Well, your father has cooled off. You could have brought them back here."

"I don't think they would have wanted to come back," she said. "This is fine."

When Linda made her way back to the table and settled herself beside Seth he casually reached up and put his arm atop the seatback, framing her shoulders with it. "Do your parents watch your every move?" he asked. "Well, the way I ran out of the house, I thought I owed them an explanation," she said. Mike and Billy both looked at them, smiling, listening with interest. Linda wanted to deflect some of the attention away from herself. "What about your parents?"

Seth looked back at her as though he was drinking her all in. "What about them?"

"How did you get along with them, what do they think about you riding motorcycles, do they live nearby, you know."

"I get along with them a lot better now that I'm out of the house," he said, as the waitress arrived to take their order. "I don't know how you can stand it."

"I'm only home until late August," she said. "Then I get a nine month vacation from them. What do they think about your motorcycle?"