In the Fall They Come Back by Robert Bausch

Author:Robert Bausch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

25

Prom Night

One memorable event near the end of that first year was the prom. We all had to attend in formal attire. I think that was the first time everybody met Annie, who wore a long white sleeveless gown and spiked heels that made her look a lot taller. She wore a white pearl necklace that only made the bones in her neck and upper chest look even more silky and elegant and structurally beautiful. I really couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Doreen wore a tuxedo that looked a lot like the one I had rented, and when Annie first got a glimpse of it she looked at me and winked.

“What?” I said.

She whispered, “Didn’t you tell me Doreen was gay?”

“I said I thought she might be. I don’t know.”

“Well I guess we do now.”

“It’s just a style. She just dresses stylishly.”

“Yeah,” Annie said. “Right.”

Mr. Creighton played the guitar for part of the evening, and I think even the kids enjoyed it. He really could make a sweet, rippling sound come from that guitar, his fingers dancing over the strings, his gold rings glittering in the spotlight. He was a bit overweight, and looked like he ought to be playing “Begin the Beguine” or some other Harry James song, but there he was, under the lights, playing James Taylor, Eric Clapton, and Neil Young. He did a rendition of “Southern Cross”—just the music mind you, no singing—that had everybody in the room trying to sing it themselves. It really was kind of amazing and sad at the same time. He worked so hard under those lights, sweat running down, and Mrs. Creighton talked to the kids and paid no attention at all. The kids wouldn’t dance until Mr. Creighton sat down and let the DJ Mrs. Creighton had hired play some of “their” music. (That’s what they called it. “Their” music, as if they had made the songs themselves.)

I think Annie had fun. Everybody mentioned how beautiful she looked, and we danced a bit in spite of the obvious attention it produced from the kids. (They never expect a teacher to actually have a life outside the classroom.) I really was feeling kind of special, too—since many of my students came over to talk to us and they didn’t seem as if they wanted to avoid our company. Also, I think I looked pretty well distinguished in that tuxedo.

It was a hot night—one of those early summer nights when even the crickets seem to complain—and the dance was in a rented hall, about two blocks from the school. With the doors open to let in air, the sound of music probably got a lot of attention in the neighborhood. It’s just possible one of the kids invited trouble by telling friends from other schools what was going on that night, but who knows? At any rate, just when the evening was about to wind down—I’d already said “hello” to a couple of parents who had arrived to round up their kids—Doreen came running across the dance floor with a look of real panic on her face.

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