Bowing to Elephants by Mag Dimond

Author:Mag Dimond
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2019-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

Some Untouchables in My Past

Being a Stranger in Florida—1963

I was “a stranger in a strange land” in Winter Park, Florida, on a November afternoon in 1963. A bunch of us crammed into David’s pale blue Cadillac convertible and headed off for the beach with cases of Budweiser stashed in the trunk. On our way, we stopped at a lonely gas station around noon so someone could buy cigarettes. I happened to be here in the land of palm trees because I had been expelled from my first-choice college in Ohio for living off-campus with my boyfriend, Jack. My mother’s brother, who was used to managing things, quickly came up with the idea of Rollins College when my mother made it clear she didn’t want me living in her New York apartment for the coming year. In September of 1963, I boarded a train, dressed in a dark red suit with a fur collar and a strand of real pearls that had been handed down to me, and I promised myself I’d just put my head down and work hard to get good grades for a year so I could return to Antioch and my beloved young beau.

Many of my cohorts were at Rollins because they came from rich families who needed a convenient place to park their kids for the full four years while they sorted themselves out. I saw quickly that this was not a serious institution of higher learning, and that most of my companions seem to have little or no thought of making their way in the world. Dex and Ruthie and Bob, David, Sonny, and … who else was headed to the beach that day? I can’t remember—it was quite a blurry time, to say the least; too much beer and too many late nights. I also figured out I could probably drink my way through this college chapter, trusting that my not-so-admirable balancing act of closet drinking and serious study that had worked in high school would work here as well. I tagged along with this unlikely group of wealthy misfits who talked about rock n’ roll and booze, and not about writers or scientists or social change; many of them felt entitled and complained regularly about their parents and all they weren’t doing for them.

I was mildly attracted to this fellow named Dexter, a very white guy from Chicago who played great rock ’n’ roll piano and tried to channel Jerry Lee Lewis. He had ash blond hair, a squared off jaw, and chilly blue eyes. I wasn’t crazy about his elitist way of talking, but when I kept up with the rum and Cokes at the drive-in, I noticed it bothered me less and less. I lived in a dorm with other girls who had chosen not to join sororities, and we spent a lot of our time either playing bridge or planning midnight outings with different guys. Forever the responsible student, however, I forced myself to go to all my classes and do the work, and I managed to accomplish all this while spending a lot of time with the party crowd.

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