February 10, 1965
Jocie Brooke here reporting from Hollyhill, Kentucky. Snow is still on the ground but the school buses are running again. I don’t ride the bus. Dad takes me to school on his way to the newspaper office. Thank goodness. If I had to ride the bus, I’d be on it for an hour. That might be all right if I could read or sleep, but reading while riding makes me upchuck and I’ve been on buses a time or two. They hit every bump in the road. Way too bouncy for sleeping. Of course, my girlfriend, Myra, likes riding her bus since her boyfriend is on the same route. They sit together and get all moony eyed over each other. She’ll probably get a fancy heart shaped box of chocolate candy. Sigh.
I don’t have a boyfriend. Myra says I never will if I don’t learn how to flirt a little. I tell her I don’t care if I don’t ever have a boyfriend if I have to go around batting my eyes like I’ve got sand in them or something. She says she doesn’t do that. She just smiles a lot and lets Joseph know how cute she thinks he is. I didn’t tell her, but Joseph would never be on my cute boy list. Then again, I don’t have a cute boy list. Maybe I should make one and then I could study up on flirting. I do have guys I like to talk to, but I can’t imagine holding hands with any of them. Eww! They’re just buddies.
Still it might be fun to get one of those heart boxes. We ran this ad in the paper last week. Dad should get one for Leigh. He did get her chocolate once, but nothing as fancy as this. Just a big chocolate bar back when he was trying to remember how to be romantic. He said it had been a long time since he’d even thought about romance before Leigh began to bat her eyes at him. But I don’t know if she’s got much chance of getting one of those neat heart boxes of chocolates. Dad says you’re not getting a very good return for your money on the candy inside. That it’s all show.
But even if I don’t know much about flirting, I know that the return on that fancy Valentine heart is not what’s inside the box. Leigh would like it. Dad spending that kind of money on a box of candy would make her feel loved. But he probably won’t. Even if Zella tells him to. Dad is sensible. Maybe that’s why I’m not a good flirter. I’m sensible too. Gee, that sounds horrible at my age. It’s okay for Dad to be sensible, but I’m fifteen. I’m not supposed to be sensible yet, am I?
Wes says not to worry, that I’ve done lots of silly stuff and I probably won’t be really sensible for at least three years. He says on Jupiter girls my age have purple hair and instead of giggling when they see a boy they think is cute, they hop up and down like a bunch of crazy rabbits. I guess it’s good I’m not a Jupiter girl. I don’t think I’d like all that hopping although purple hair sounds kind of neat. Wouldn’t that give poor Aunt Love a stroke? She’d be quoting me lots of verses out of the Bible, for sure.
But if you aren’t so sensible and know about romance, you should buy your sweetheart something special for Valentine’s. Or write them a love poem. Sigh. Now that I could do. If I had any boys on my cute boy list.
So have you ever gotten one of those fancy boxes of candy for Valentine’s? If so, maybe you can give me some flirting hints.