Entry 19611130-1 — Backstory 15 — Aftermath

_November 30, 1961, Milford, Ohio_

{psc} Elizabeth had no choice but to climb inside the room and face what she was sure was certain doom. When she looked up, she felt a tiny bit of relief because the figure in the doorway was her sister Fran, clad in her long flannel nightgown.

"Shut the door," Elizabeth whispered urgently.

Thankfully, Fran did that.

"Where were you?" Fran asked, keeping her voice low, just above a whisper.

"None of your business!" Elizabeth declared in a harsh whisper, but immediately regretted it.

"Then I'm telling Mom and Dad," Fran declared, reaching for the doorknob.

Elizabeth was certain that if she told the truth, Fran would snitch, but what could she say that Fran would believe and not have her tell their parents?

"I couldn't sleep so I went out for a walk!" Elizabeth said.

"For two hours?" Fran asked. "And sneaking out the window?"

"I was afraid I'd wake someone up if I went out the door," Elizabeth said quickly.

"You aren't even supposed to be out of the house without Mom with you," Fran said, turning the doorknob.

"Fran, please!" Elizabeth begged. "You'll be grounded, too! And you won't be able to see Sam!"

Fran immediately realized it was true and considered what to do. But before she could make up her mind, there was a knock at the door and the doorknob turned. Fran wilted, because there was no way to hide that Elizabeth was wearing her coat and wool hat.

"What's going on, girls?" Joshua Sorkin asked. "And why are you not in you bedclothes, Elizabeth?"

Fran thought quickly and decided the only way out was to tell the truth and hope for the best.

"I heard a noise and came to check on Elizabeth and saw her climbing in the window!" Fran said.

"LIAR!" Elizabeth growled.

"You're wearing your hat, coat, and shoes," their dad said. "And I can feel the chill of the window."

"I was just about to come wake you," Fran added quickly. "My hand was on the doorknob."

"Go back to bed, Franny," he said. "Your mom and I will handle this."

"Yes, Dad."

"Witch!" Elizabeth spat at Fran.

Fran ignored her and left the room, going back to hers. She was sure Elizabeth had been out to meet a boy, and if she had to guess, it was Kenny, though Kenny would be foolish to meet given the trouble he had with the law. Fran got into bed, pulled the sheet and blanket over her and closed her eyes, wondering what was going on in the room next door.

"Where were you, young lady?" Joshua asked, now having been joined by his wife.

"Out for a walk!" she replied.

"I don't believe you," Joshua said.

"It's true!" Elizabeth declared.

"Josh, allow me to handle this, please," Esther said.

She had a sneaking suspicion of what Elizabeth had been doing and felt she had a better chance of finding out. When Josh didn't budge, she put her hand on his arm and guided him into the hallway.

"She's not going to say anything different to you," Esther counseled. "Just give me five minutes."

"I don't like it, but OK."

Esther went back into the room and shut the door.

"Get ready for bed," Esther said to Elizabeth.

"I need privacy!" Elizabeth protested. "You always say we should change in private!"

"Not this time," Esther declared. "Do as I said."

Elizabeth was sure that her underwear would show telltale signs, as she hadn't had a sanitary napkin with her, or the belt, and she knew that despite wiping herself, she suspected she had leaked. That meant here panties would probably be tinged with her virgin blood. If she got undressed, her mom would see it, and she was dead.

"Now, Elizabeth Marie," Esther said firmly.

Now fully resigned to her fate, Elizabeth took off her hat and coat, slipped off her shoes, and began undressing. She left on her bra and panties, hoping against hope she'd get away with it, and quickly pulled on her nightgown.

"Change your underwear," Esther commanded.

Elizabeth went to her drawer and pulled out a fresh pair of cotton panties, slipped off her current pair, seeing a wet spot with a pink tinge, She tried a final gambit, tossing them into the hamper, and slipped on the fresh pair. Esther was having none of it, and walked over to the hamper and carefully picked up the soiled underthings.

"It's obvious what you were doing, young lady. Who were you with?"

"It's none of your business!" Elizabeth declared.

"Your father isn't going to accept that answer, Elizabeth," Esther said. "And you know he'll call the police and say it was Kenny, who I have to believe it was."

"It wasn't!" Elizabeth declared. "But I will _never_ tell who it was because Daddy will have him arrested!"

"We didn't raise you to be wanton," Esther protested. "What happened?"

There was no point in not being defiant as the die was cast, so Elizabeth didn't hold back.

"I told you I wanted to fuck, and I did! I sucked the guy and swallowed his seed, too! And you can see the proof that I _didn't_ fuck Kenny, even though I wanted to! That's why it's pink! I was cherry until tonight!"

Esther recoiled and said, "If you use language like that with your father, you're going to regret it. He won't take that lightly at all."

"Who cares? He already decided to ruin my life! Well, he couldn't stop me from fucking when I wanted to! Or sucking! I'm in control, not him!"

"Is that what this is about?"

"He's an ogre!" Elizabeth declared.

"Oh, he is not," Esther countered. "Keeping you safe is not being an ogre."

"What's unsafe about sucking and fucking?" Elizabeth asked, baiting her mom. "He used a rubber, so I won't catch!"

"You're only fourteen!" Esther said. "You're too young to be doing those things!"

"How old is old enough?" Elizabeth sneered. "Fran gave it up to Ben Goldfeder!"

Esther recoiled again, wondering how she had gone so wrong, but then remembering that she, too, had 'given it up' at age sixteen, before she married. But those were very special circumstances because of the war, and the young man had met his fate on Guadalcanal.

"This is not about your sister, this is about you. I'm going to speak to your father and we'll deal with this in the morning. Now, go to bed."

Elizabeth reluctantly got into bed, her mother shut off the light, left the room, and closed the door behind her. Elizabeth thought once again about running away, but she didn't have the money or friends anywhere outside the Cincinnati area. Jim was eighteen and had a job at the garage where he fixed motorcycles, something he could do in California, and they could get there on his motorcycle. She wondered if he'd consider it, and thought he would, considering how much he obviously liked what she had done with him. She'd find a way to sneak out the following week and ask him if they could run away together.

"Well?" Joshua asked.

"She snuck out to have intimate relations with a boy."

"Damn that Kenny Burnside's eyes!" Joshua growled. "I'm calling the police right now!"

"She swears it wasn't him."

"She lied to your face about being out, and you believe her?"

"Actually, I do. And you need to be sure before you call the police, because this time, Kenny won't be out on bail."

"You say that if it's a bad thing!" Joshua protested.

"We have bigger problems than Kenny Burnside, Dear. She was with some boy or man who we don't know about."

"Why are you so calm?" Joshua asked angrily.

"I'm not," Esther countered. "I am seething, just as you are, but there's no point in being angry with each other. We need to figure out what to do."

"I'll be damned if I allow any boys into this house!" Joshua declared.

"You're not thinking clearly, Dear," she countered. "In this house is exactly where you want them! Allow them to court under your watchful eye! And you know Sam Mercer and his dad Isaac, and both are honorable, respectable men. Walking straight to his store and back is about as safe as possible, and I'm sure he'll keep an eye on his son to make sure he respects our daughter."

"You're awfully trusting."

"Fran hasn't shown any reason to not trust her," Esther said.

Though refusing to answer questions about Ben made Esther suspicious. Fran's logic was sound, even if Esther didn't agree. That said, the bigger problem was Elizabeth and what to do about her.

"I'm going to put some kind of latch on that window to keep her from opening it."

"And if there were a fire?" Esther asked. "Find some other solution, please."

"In a fire, the firemen would break the window."

"But she couldn't get out on her own."

"That's the point!" Joshua declared angrily. "Why are you not taking this seriously?"

"I am," Esther said. "You're allowing your anger to get the best of you. Let's go back to bed and she and sleep on it. You have to be up for work in just over three hours."

Joshua knew she was right and acquiesced and they went to bed to get a few hours sleep. In the morning, while they were dressing, Esther and Joshua came to no conclusions, and Esther implored Joshua not to start a fight at breakfast. That had led to him holding the newspaper in front of his face while his daughters were at the table, but had prevented any conflict before he'd left for work. Once she'd kissed him goodbye and waved from the door as she usually did, she went to Fran's room.

"Do you have any idea who Elizabeth might have snuck out to see last night?"

Fran had seen Elizabeth talk to Jim Henderson one day outside, but it had appeared he'd shooed Elizabeth away, and the last thing Fran wanted to do was have someone arrested when they were innocent.

Fran shook her head, "She always sits with Elaine at lunch, which is the only time I see her. Obviously she could talk to any boy in the school, in the hallways or in class."

"Do you think you could find out?"

"How?" Fran asked. "It's not as if her friends are going to tell me! And I'm not going to be a spy! Daddy is going to make me cancel with Sam, isn't he?"

"No," Esther replied. "I pointed out that having Sam here under his watchful eye is the right choice, but I did lay the groundwork for you to walk to the five-and-dime for malts."

"Really?!"

"Yes, but no guarantees, Fran. Sam will need to be on his absolute best behavior and be a perfect gentleman."

"He always is," Fran replied. "But I'll remind him."

"Fran, your sister said you 'gave it up' to Ben Goldfeder."

"First of all, how would she know if I did or didn't? Second, as I said, at sixteen, that is nobody's business except mine. And no matter how many times you ask, I won't answer."

Esther considered the situation and decided on a strategy that might just work.

"Let's talk after school today, Fran. Now I need to speak to Elizabeth. Will you promise me something, please?"

"What's that?"

"If you see Elizabeth speaking with any boys, you'll let me know?"

"Mom, I don't want anyone arrested!" Fran protested.

"Just do it, Fran. Please."

"I'll think about it," Fran said.

"I suppose that's all I can ask," Esther said. "Have a good day at school."

"Thanks, Mom."

Esther left Fran's room and went next door to Elizabeths' room while Fran left the house to walk to school with Allison and Jennie.

"Are you ready to talk to me?" Esther asked Elizabeth. "I can only help you with your father if you talk to me."

"Tell me another one!" Elizabeth. "You want to know who I fucked so you can have them arrested so you can stop me fucking! But you can't!"

"Elizabeth, will you please stop trying to bait me? If you say anything like that to your father, he's going to lose it."

"So what?! What can he do to me he isn't already doing?"

"Send you to an all-girls boarding school," Esther said.

"What! He can't do that!"

"Yes, he can."

"NO! I won't go!"

"Then talk to me, please! But now we need to walk to school."

They went to the foyer and put on their hats, coats, and gloves, and left the house to walk to the school. Elizabeth was sure the only answer was to run away to California, where there was no way her parents could ever find her. She needed to find a way to talk to Jim and convince him to run away with her. However she did it, though, she had to make sure nobody knew they spoke.

She didn't say anything at all to her mom on the way to school, and didn't even say 'goodbye' when she walked into the building. She went to her locker, then went to homeroom. While she was sitting there, she wrote a note for Jim and checked the wall clock. She had enough time, so she quickly went to the hallway where the Seniors had their lockers, and not seeing anyone, stuck the note in Jim's locker. She hurried back to homeroom, plopping into her seat just as the tardy bell rang.

At lunch, Elizabeth avoided Elaine and went to the basement to wait in the old nurses' office, and this time, Jim showed up.

"What's so urgent?" he asked, moving so he couldn't be seen if someone looked in.

"Did you like what we did last night?" Elizabeth asked.

"A lot! I'm going to buy three rubbers at the gas station before next Thursday!"

"Let's run away together!" Elizabeth said. "We can go to California and you can get a job and we can ditch this dumb town!"

"What?!" Jim asked, surprised.

"I hate living here and want to go to California!"

"I have responsibilities," Jim said. "I take care of my mom and my little sister. I can't leave them. Why do you want to leave so badly?"

"I hate my parents!" Elizabeth declared. "I need to get out of here!"

"I can't leave my mom and sister," Jim said. "And we need to get out of here before we get caught. I'll see you Thursday."

Elizabeth wasn't sure how that would happen given she'd been caught, but she was determined to find a way. After checking the hallway, they left the room, and Elizabeth went to the ladies' so they didn't walk into the cafeteria at the same time.

Fran, who was sitting with her friends, saw her sister come into the cafeteria about ten minutes late, and wondered what she'd been doing. Elizabeth sat with Elaine, as she normally did, and Fran didn't see any boys near them at a table full of Freshman girls. Later, after they'd eaten, Fran kept an eye on her sister, but once again, she hung out with a group of girls.

"What's bugging you?" Allison asked Fran.

"Nothing," Fran replied.

"Then why are you watching your sister like a hawk?"

"I'm not," Fran protested, shifting so her back was to her sister.

"When did you start fibbing to me?" Allison asked.

"You have to keep this totally to yourself," Fran said.

"I will. Spill!"

Fran was about to tell her, but then Nancy Morton came over to them, so it would have to wait until Allison and Fran walked home after school.

"I'm having dinner at Alan Blanchard's house again tonight," Nancy said. "What are you two doing?"

"Bobby and I are going to Ben Franklin for malts after dinner tonight."

"I'm still not allowed to go out," Fran said. "But Sam Mercer will be at Sunday dinner."

"When do you think you'll be allowed to go out?" Allison asked.

"Who knows?" Fran groused.

A few minutes later, the bell rang, and they headed back to class. When school let out, Fran, Allison, and Jennie walked together. Jennie's house was first along the way, and after she went inside, Fran and Allison were alone.

"Spill!" Allison demanded.

"Elizabeth snuck out last night to be with a boy, and my parents caught her."

"Oh my gosh!" Allison exclaimed. "Kenny?"

"That's what I thought, but Daddy didn't call the police this morning, so maybe not."

"Then who?"

"I have no idea, but it's going to be ugly at home tonight, I'm sure."

"I'm sorry, Fran. I know it stinks for you. Want me to come over Saturday after your services?"

"Yes."

When they reached Allison's house, she went inside and Fran continued home, bracing herself for a terrible evening.