Canaan Years - City Boy

Why is it when girls are teenagers, the guy they like doesn't seem to notice, and another is avoided like a stinky porta-potty? I wasn't any different. (What a crazy, mixed-up age!)

The summer we left New York, a young fellow came to the cabins across the road from us. (I will call him City Boy because he lived in NYC.) He was nice enough, and we wrote for a few months after our family moved.

Three years later, the summer of 1974, he wrote and announced that he would be coming up to visit me for my birthday - my sixteenth birthday. (NOOOOOOOO!) The young man that I liked would be returning from boot camp right about then, and I didn't want City Boy hanging around. But my parents said it would nice for him to visit us.

I'll have to admit that I was rather rude...VERY RUDE! I spent time with my friends, as usual, and even had a sleep over to watch the meteor shower. Secretly...or maybe not so secretly... I was glad that City Boy's allergy medicine made him drowsy so that he took naps often. I deliberately dressed in ugly clothes - long pants, even though I was sweltering. When our family, went swimming at the lake, City Boy bragged at how far he could swim under water. I took the challenge and swam at least 10 feet farther with hardly trying. I was so mean, but I just didn't want him there.

My birthday happened to land on a Friday - our youth group night. We were going miniature golfing, and Boot Camp Guy would be there. Everyone was divided into pairs, and of course, I was assigned to City Boy as my partner. As we walked from hole to hole, I often "wandered" to the next hole where Boot Camp Guy was playing instead of waiting for City Boy to take his turn. (shaking head...What a brat!)

The next day, my mother said I should spend time with City Boy, since he was our guest and he came to see me. (Ugh!) She suggested that we go canoeing in the stream and take a picnic. (Alone!?) So, obediently I packed a lunch, and we dragged our canoe down to the nearby stream. (The same one that I later kayaked to my job cleaning campers.)

City Boy had never been in a canoe, so I put him in the front to "watch for rocks." In a few minutes, I noticed he was trailing his hand in the water. He said, "Are you getting any blisters?" (UGH! We hadn't gone half the distance to the good picnic place.) We came upon a pasture with a shady tree close by and decided to stop there.

He was a gentleman and helped me out of the canoe. As I secured it, he said, "Did you think I was going to kiss you?" (WHAT?!) I was determined to get back as soon as we could. I led the way to the shady tree, and I heard "EWWWWWW" behind me. I turned to see him tiptoeing around a cow pile. (...rolling my eyes... It's a pasture! What do you expect?) I ate my lunch as fast as I could, and told him that we ought to go back and take care of his blisters. (I'm pretty sure, he was "harmless" and wouldn't have taken advantage of me. I just didn't like him anymore.)

Later that evening, we went to the Skowhegan State Fair. He talked me into going on a spinning ride. I got my brother to go with us. City Boy sat in the middle between my brother and me. My hands cramped from hanging on to the edge as the centrifugal force pulled me against him. Before going home, we watched the Gospel movie in the CEF chapel on wheels, and that night, after talking with my parents, he made a profession of salvation. Maybe he really did get saved - if so, I'm glad - but I was also very glad when we finally took him back to the bus station.

For years, my heart would skip a beat (in panic) when I thought I saw his face in a crowd. I thought, for sure, he was going to show up again. I hoped and prayed that he wouldn't show up at my wedding! (...to whomever it would be - someone who could swim, paddle a canoe, and walk through a field without saying "EWWWW"!)