SHE ASKED ME by Jerry Kihlstrom It was warm in the halls that afterncon, and Wendel didn’t care what was happening. It was Friday, and Wendel had taken his tests that morning. As far as he knew he did pretty well on the math and science tests, and should have got an “A” on the English test. For an 8th grader that made him feel good. He knew his dad would be proud of him. Wendel was 5’ 9”, fairly thin, and had big feet. His walnut brown eyes and curly red hair shown brightly in the lumination of the hall lights. Those guys are weird, he thought as he watched a boy and a girl holding hands in the hall. Boy, you’d never catch me doing that. He thought of girls as something to tease. But now some of his friends had gone bad and There was started a smell messing of salty around sweat. with them: Wendel thought it must be from those overheated love birds walking up the hall. Oh well, their marriage won’t last long anyway, he thought jokingly. The bell had just rung, letting out the school for the day. He could hear someone scream up the hall and all around him people were talking about what they were going to do now that schood was out for the week- end. He walked to his locker and reached out. His hand grabbed a hold of the small black dial. He felt the small tread of the dial digging into his fingers. The metal felt cool. Putting his ear next to the locker, he could imagine himself kneeling next to a safe in a foreign country, trying to steal the secret plans of the enemy. He turned the dial, first to the right, then left, then back to the right. Wendel lifted on the handle. Click, the locker swung open. Wendel leaned back on the opened door and felt the edge poking him in the back. The spearmint gum he had been chewing since lunch was losing its flavor so he rolled it up into a small ball. Watching for a target, he saw a pair of brown Wingtip shoes coming down the hall toward him. The shoes were almost directly in front of him. He gave them a lead and flipped the gum out of his hand. The gum took two bounces as it hit the ground and then ran smooth towards its target. As the heel of the shoe came to the ground, the gum rolled under it. As the shoe moved down the hall, Wendel could see a small white blob on the black heel everytime the shoe was picked up off the floor. Wendel smiled at himself, ‘Perfect shot.” Looking around, Wendel saw that the halls were almost clear. Two lockers down from his was a girl named Gwen. She was stooped down picking up some books in the bottom of her locker. Gwen was in his first period class. She had a black skirt and a white Ban-Lon on. Her face, he thought, was cute. Her hair split in the top center of her head, puffed out around her cheeks, and then curved in and, ended right under her jaw bone. She had long bangs in front that came down to her eyebrows. Her eyes were hazel, nose small, and lips well formed. She had light brown freckles all over her face. When she smiled, 30 ne freckles showing up on her well rounded cheeks made her look even cuter. Gwen picked up one more book, stood up, and looked over at Wendel. Wendel hurriedly glanced the other direction so that she wouldn’t know that he had been looking at her. _ Looking back, he watched her shut her locker and walk right up to him. Looking at her eyes, he saw that they were trained right on his. This made him feel very uncomfortable. “Hi,” she said. Wendel wanted to look behind himself to see if anyone was there. But he knew that everyone had gone home. “Hi,” he said. “What are you doing next Friday night?” “T don’t know,’’ Wendel said. He was trying to think what was coming off next Friday night, but couldn’t remember. He felt scared inside talking to her, or even standing that close to her. _ “Well, you know that it’s the night of the St. Valentines dance. It’s girl’s choice; and I thought if you would come with me, we could go out to dinner after, and I’ll pay.’”’ Gwen said. Trying not to act scared, Wendel answered quickly with the first thing that came to his mind. “Well, ’m not sure, I'll have to check my schedule, but I think it’ll be all right.” “Good,” she said. ‘Well then, I’ll talk to you tomorrow about it.” “Yea,” Wendel said watching her walk down the hall. Her hair bounced up and down, one arm swung free as the other held her books close to her side. She turned the corner and he stood there looking at the empty hall. “A girl asked me to go with her to the dance,” he thought smiling to himself. “Wait till I tell the boys about it, the free meal and all. Besides,” he thought, “she is kind of cute-”’ A BALLOON FULL OF WARM One Sunday he took me to the zoo And bought me pink cotton candy frothed on a cardboard cone. We threw peanuts to the monkeys He gave a dime to a and tried to make little girl in white the lions roar. gloves— | And we sat under an elm and smiled at people with cameras and straw hats. When it was time to go home we bought two yellow balloons. I tied mine to my finger so it wouldn’t float away. Nancy 31 Watts