Full of Beans at Wallace Creek ((Adolescence) (1965, Chapter Fifteen, summer of 1965))

Advance: In the spring of 1965, Wallace Creek was full of mud and cold cool fresh water, from the meltdown of a cold winter, when summer came the creek was flowing almost like the river it connected to, it was high; the sun likened to a fire from a winter’s, plantation’s hearth, which made for a great summer getaway down by the creek. Bees were buzzing, birds chirping, and dogs barking, and there was a warm wind that whirled its way into, through and around the slim branches of the trees, loosening the leaves attached to those slender branches, and they wiggled free, and fell drunkenly onto the ground; Cassandra was eleven years old looked thirteen if not older and developing; Langdon, was all of fourteen, and as handsome as any movie star in Hollywood.


Those summers prior to 1965, were happy summers for the most part, and this summer for Cassandra and Langdon, would be no less, with a few surprises, but the last. She came to visit as usual for three months on the Abernathy Plantation, sometimes she stayed the full three months, and a few times less, and a summer or two, Caroline and Langdon, stayed in the Hightower House, in New Orleans. They had quite the system, and it broke the boredom of life, although Caroline would only stay for a few weeks, and leave Langdon in Betty Hightower’s care, and likewise, Betty would leave Cassandra in the care of Caroline on their plantation, outside of Fayetteville, North Carolina after a few weeks and leave, and they would get a break from the kids, and the kids would get a break from their parents. And Langdon and Cassandra got to grow up together, harmoniously, with a family member almost their own age.
At eleven years old, she was quite developed, so Langdon would find out this year when they went skinny dipping in the creek. Her body was smooth and hard, with a flat stomach, and Langdon had an iron stomach to match, and once they put on their swimming suites down at Wallace Creek, on Wallace property, it was show and tell time. Both swam together near the river that the creek connected to, it was deeper there, and Cassandra liked looking at Langdon when he floated on his back, she was not shy by no means and even asked him to, and neither was Langdon, if anything they both were a little taken back at each others developing bodies. They snuck glance after glance at each other, checking out each others limbs, and movements, and the erect way Cassandra was now walking (just eighteen months prior Cassandra had asked her mother for a bra, but was told point blank, ‘not yet!’ not until she got something to put into it, and it was a sad day to say the least, but a twelve months later, she had her first bra, and a little something to put into it, and now there was much more to put into it, although her mother had for the interim, stopped taking notice, but Cassandra didn’t, and Langdon, now eighteen-months down the road, could verify, she would be needing a new one soon).

This summer, they both swam almost every day, and they were no longer looking for the deep, deep water near the river, anyplace would do to get wet, and lay half naked, and sometimes a little more than half; they laid by each other and fell to sleep on a blanket. It was perhaps the best of their growing years, the best summer they would ever remember, the most tranquil for sure, untroubled without the slightest worry, matter-of-fact, had you asked them about growing up, I’m sure they didn’t want to this summer, they liked it as it was. But the Wallace brothers saw them swimming, and sleeping by the creek, they were on Wallace land, and created some rumors, gossip that went from the Wallace Plantation, to the Stanley Plantation, and on to Cole and Caroline Abernathy, and even Betty Hightower in New Orleans. Other than exploration, nothing had really happened, that is to say, nothing took place, seriously took place between the two cousins. As close as one can become, to Adam and Eve, in pure innocence, before they ate the apple, Cassandra and Langdon, did. But Cassandra’s childhood was over this summer, and she knew it, she was blossoming, and Langdon knew it I suppose.
Minnie Mae, Frank and Wally’s cook, met both Cassandra and Langdon by the creek one afternoon, told them that the two brother’s had aroused some suspicion among the plantations, and even called Cassandra’s mother in New Orleans told her that they were sleeping by each other half naked on a blanket by their creek; had it been a year ago, it would not have been suspicious news, it would not have mattered, but this year it was different. Thus, Betty Hightower told her daughter over the phone, “This is the last summer you will spend on the Abernathy plantation, without her present,” and she was final on that subject.
Betty was wise enough not to blame anyone in particular, lest she start a family feud, and pointed no fingers in any direction, matter of fact, she said very little on the subject, although one thing she did say to Caroline was, “I think the kids, are not kids anymore, they are adolescents, young people who are changing, and up to now their lives have been uninterrupted, but with unknown factors and hormones going wild, I think I have to give Cassandra a little more personal attention, so if we visit, we’ll do it together, if you don’t mind.”
It promoted a perceptibly cooler relationship between the two families, and to be honest, it was the last summer they, Langdon and Cassandra, truly enjoyed uninterrupted in their whole lives.

Written 7-5-2008