VII

Wrong side of town

Jim lived only a few blocks from Sandy, but in the older part of town. Northgate was a nice community of about 30,000 people. There were two high schools in the town. John D. Crawford, where Sandy and Jim attended, which was more in the rural area of the city; and Northgate High, a new, more modern school. There was a standing joke about Crawford High. “We have the only high school between two corn fields and the principal’s name is Cobb.” The principal’s name at that time was Jason B. Cobb.

The area where Jim lived consisted of lower middle-income families. They had incomes from both the blue-collar male and female homeowners, while the area Sandy lived in was comprised mostly of single income white-collar professionals. Sandy’s father held a management position for T & B Railroad.

Mr. And Mrs. North had been hearing about Jim, not only from Sandy and her sister, but thanks to the local town gossip had heard about Jim and his family through the “grape vine”. But as of yet, they had never become acquainted with Jim. They only saw him in passing as he picked up Sandy for their dates or in the morning as he gave Sandy and her sister a ride to school. Sandy’s parents always had high aspirations for her. They wanted her to go on to college after high school and become a professional, then meet someone such as a doctor or lawyer, settle down and become a prominent socialite. Everything they heard or learned about Jim convinced them that he would never fit into their future plans for Sandy.

Sandy’s mother was a very beautiful woman and Sandy shared a remarkable resemblance to her, as also did her two younger sisters. Mrs. North was a very domineering woman who took charge in the North household. Whatever Sandy’s mother wanted she would eventually get. Mr. North was an extremely henpecked husband. He bowed to every whim of not only Mrs. North, but also of all three girls. Yet all in all, they were a very close-knit family unit.

One Saturday afternoon Jim was working on his car which he raced every week at the local drag strip when Bob Richman cam over. Bob was kind of a half-hearted hood. He always got into minor scrapes with the local law enforcement agencies. Bob drove up on an old Eagle Motorcycle he had just picked up. The motorcycle looked as though it had been a basket case three owners ago. It smoked heavily and was rather loud. But to Bob and Jim this bike was a “Harley”. Jim asked if Bob would let him take it for a spin. Bob said, “Do you know how to drive it?” Jim replied, “Sure I do.” Bob then said “OK< where’s first gear?” Jim had never been on a bike before in his life, but saw the gearshift on the tank and made a lucky guess, pulling the handle straight down. “OK Jim, where’s second gear?” Jim figured second must be at the middle notch and put the gearshift there. “OK Jim, where’s third?” Jim decided this had to be the next notch. Jim was beginning to worry if a fourth gear existed for he had just run out of notches. Bob then said, “OK, I guess you can take it for a little spin, but come right back, and be careful! I don’t have any insurance on it and if the cops catch you we’re both in a whole world of shit!” Jim put on his black and gold varsity jacket, black boots, black gloves, dark sunglasses and Bob’s black helmet. Along with the tight jeans he was wearing Jim looked like something out of Motorcycle Digest. After a pretty shaky start Jim went cruising up and down the block. Once he got the feel of the machine he decided he would take a run by Sandy’s house to show off a little. Sandy and her sisters were out on the front porch when Jim drove by. He honked the horn as he drove by and they all ran down by the steps to see who it was. Sandy noticed it was Jim and gave him a big smile and waved. Jim though this was great, so he thought he would be “cool” and pulled up in front of her house to show off the bike. Jim drove back down Sandy’s block and when he reached the front of her house turned toward the walk leading up to the porch. At this time it occurred to Jim that he did not know how to stop the motorcycle. As he came closer to the porch a look of fear crossed his face and Sandy immediately sensed that something was not just right. Jim was coming directly at the porch, and then turned away just as Sandy’s sister jumped away, just in time. As she screamed, Mr. And Mrs. North came to the front picture window. They watched as Jim drove back and forth over their front lawn. Then Jim says Sandy’s parents and froze. Jim was heading right towards the picture window and was looking directly at Sandy’s parents, who of course, were glaring back at him in surprise. Everyone screamed and Jim jumped off the bike just before it hit the window. As Jim jumped off the bike it went to the side, ran through a flowerbed and stuck in a standing position in a large bush to the side of the house. As Jim looked up from the ground where he had rolled after he jumped off, he saw Sandy’s parents look at each other in sheer disgust. Jim walked over to the motorcycle, pulled it out of the bushes and walked it back down the street. Nothing was said about the incident until about a month later, after the heat died down. Jim and Sandy had a good laugh over it. But the North’s knew from that first encounter with Jim that this was only the beginning of their deep-seated hostility that they were starting to feel towards him.