Let's Go Play at the Adams'

with Terry came back to her. You don't tum people into bunny rabbits. They are people;

John is nearly a man. He's bigger than I am, stronger than I am, and he can do a lot of

things to me that I can't stop--now. And why stop it, Sexy Barbara said.

Sexy Barbara, indeed, allowed herself to be handled with grace and opportunism (such as

was allowed her). She flexed her toes and rubbed her feet-sole on top of top-together when

she was free, and docilely pressed her heels together when he retied them. She moved her

legs together as if there was pleasure when he eased the line above her knees-actually,

she could barely feel the difference-and sighed with gratefulness when he was done. There

was truthfulness in this, and there was manliness in John.

70

Moreover John Randall seemed to have a streak of kindness in him. After the preceding day

and a half, he was the only one who had now gone out of his way to help her. Both

Barbaras found this his most endearing trait. While she was not any more free--she could

not have gotten free in a month of uninterrupted labor-she was suddenly in a state

approaching endurability, and she was making progress.

"Thank you, John." Sexy Barbara flashed him another calculatedly shy look from beneath

eyelashes and

held up her right hand a bit.

-

For a moment he seemed about to shake it, but at the last instant, he clumsily squeezed

her fingers as he had seen polite adults do. There was about it a touch of the minuet. "You

can stay that way while I'm here," he said.

"That'll be nice," Barbara said. "Wait a minute don't go away."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"I mean, don't go over there in the corner where I can't see you. Stay here and talk to me."

"Well ... what about?"

"Anything," Sexy Barbara said. "Just don't leave me alone."

John wavered. Then he sat down on the dresser, one leg along the top, one leg extended

1

down to sup-

port himself.

"Well ... where do you go to school?'' "Here. Bryce High."

"Junior?"

»:

"Next year. I mean, next month." "Do you go out for sports?" "Yeah, football."

"Do you get to play?"

"I played JV last year. I'm supposed to go up to varsity now."

"Do you like it?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "It gives you something else to think about."

"You ought to be good at it. You're big enough."

71

"Pm not very fast." Nonetheless John accepted

the compliment with a faint coloring.

"Do you go steady?" "No."

"Do you have a girl you like?' "Well ... yeah, I guess so." "What's her name?"

"Sue," he said. 'Susan." "What's she like?"

"It's hard to just say. Usual, I guess. Brown hair." "Does she know you like her?"

"I suppose so. I've taken her to a couple of the school dances. We go to the movies

sometimes. It's pretty dull being stuck down here all the time. There's not much to do."

"Oh." Barbara paused, somewhat defeated. During the silence, she twisted back and forth

several times in a way that emphasized her (unfortunately) not-large breasts.

"Is it still too tight?"

"Oh ... I guess I'm all right." Tiredly.

''When you're at college, do you go steady?" John

became a little more sympathetic.

"No, not really." ''Why?"

"I don't know. I guess I don't want to." Since this was not quite correct, she amended it. "I

mean, nobody's asked me to that I like enough. Anyhow it's more fun to go with a lot of

different people."

"Yeah," he was unconvinced. "What do you do on dates?"

"Well . . . unless there's something big going on somewhere over the weekend, I guess we

do about the same things you do. Get off campus, go downtown for dinner. Have a few

drinks at a place where everybody likes to hang out. Go to dances. You know."

"Does everybody have a car?" "A lot of them do."

"I wish I did." And then as if the thought instantly

72

gave rise to another, he said, "Do they try to kiss you afterward?"

Barbara looked up quickly and caught him faintly blushing again at what he must

consider boldness. Found out, however, John did not give in to his shyness. He

continued to wait for his answer with interest, and it was Barbara who dropped her eyes

first.

Looking down at her useless hands lying beside her bare legs, she actually felt her

femaleness in relation to John no longer a matter of amusement or disbelief. It had

taken Sexy Barbara only a few minutes to prove suspicion right. The youngsters-this

one, at any rate--most definitely did regard her as having a sex, and from old habit, she

stiffened slightly. Enough of the come-on.

"Some of them do," she said with what of a shrug

she could manage.

"Do you let them?" "No."

"Really? Never? Not even when you were in high school? We do."

"Well ... ," Barbara was forced to nod. "Every once in awhile if it's someone I really like."

"I thought you didn't like any one person very much."

"Oh, you know," she said shortly, "what I mean is nice boys. Some of them are so-" She

made a wry face. "It's like wrestling a bear or something."