Authors: June Ahern
The three women stopped on the corner of Liberty to chat for a bit about the kids. They agreed that June and Brian going to Eureka Valley Park after school was not a very good idea. The kids should be doing home
work. Collectively they ruled; no park on weekdays. Before the women separated to go care for their families, Cathy asked Bernice for the recipe for her green chili enchilada casserole.
* * * * *
D
ANCING WITH THE MOON
MAY
31, 1959
THE CRISP NIGHT air and the bouquet of garden scents wafting through the open window of her small yellow bedroom beckoned June. Looking past the lace curtains to the night sky she began to think of the next day, her ninth birthday and what it would bring.
Last year just before her birthday, the fam
ily had received good news; they were now officially citizens of the United States of America. They had celebrated at Playland and afterwards with a walk on the beach. June hoped something special would happen for this birthday also.
Listening to Mary
’s soft snoring, she quietly slipped from beneath the quilted bedcover and slid open the window to step out onto the rooftop over the back porch. The window’s pulleys squeaked with age and for a moment her sister’s snoring stopped. Crouched on the windowsill she hesitated until her sister resumed her deep breathing. She had discussed with Mary her need to be alone to talk with her angel and Mary had agreed to keep her sister’s nocturnal excursions a secret. Even so, June didn’t want to wake her up.
As the world slept, June stepped out and settled onto
the sloped roof. Sitting with her pink bathrobe wrapped tightly, chin resting on her drawn-up knees and her unruly, curly hair freed from barrettes and springing up from her head, she enjoyed the magic of the dark night and felt anything but alone.
The full moon was out and briefly showed its face before slipping behind a cloud. Hearing a faint rustle of leaves on the tall walnut tree whose boughs brushed against the rooftop, June smiled, knowing that the neighborhood cats were watching her. Soon, one or two would jump gracefully out of the tree to sit with her and take in the wonders of the nighttime.
Fully awake with excitement, June recalled how earlier that morning, when she and her sisters had hurried down the steep hills toward school, her sisters had divulged they had a special plan for her birthday. Although no details were given, Mary did say it would be a big surprise celebration, something completely new for June’s birthday. Their enthusiasm only fueled her anticipation. One thing she was certain of was they would be going to the picture show. When Mary teased her little sister by saying, “You can’t guess what we’re doing for your birthday,” the other two bumped her from either side and said, simultaneously, “Shut up! She will, too!” Although June was tempted to conjure up the image of what the surprise would be, she stopped herself as the images started forming in her mind. No, she’d wait, she decided. A surprise was too much fun to ruin!
The jittery butterflies of anticipation flew widely through June
’s arms. Imagining a party of them fluttering from her fingertips up into the night sky, she spread her delicate fingers toward the moon to release the pent-up energy. At that moment, the moon reappeared from behind a dark cloud, as though accepting her energy. Its powerful beams penetrated through the leaves of the trees, beaming a brilliant light onto the upturned face of the little girl. She trembled in awe, with her fingertips pulsating, feeling as though she and the moon were touching. In the fullness of the night, June felt her aura grow large. She began to dance with the moon. Slowly, she waved her arms back and then swept them outward and overhead, posing like a ballerina. Powerful energy surged through her as she pulled her arms across her heart and drew down the moon’s bright light.
June thou
ght of the past few months, realizing how much she enjoyed her new role as a “good girl.” Having others happy with her was something she hadn’t remembered experiencing since her days with Mrs. G. Because of it, life at home had improved greatly. Her father hadn’t once smacked her with his belt for being naughty. And her mother was more at ease because June didn’t have to stay after school. Together with her sisters, she worked hard to have the housework completed and dinner on the table when her parents arrived home from work. June was so very thankful to Sister Noel for showing her how to fit in. Her agreement to meet with Sister Noel was easy to keep.
Each day at morning and afternoon recess they met in the principal’s office, previously a room of contention, to discuss Catholic history. June found solace in her new education. She had backed down from her fierce stance on speaking out regardless of the punishment. Their meetings had helped settle June’s feelings of persecution at school. More importantly, Sister Noel had given June a most wonderful gift; she listened to her, without judgment.
Sister Noel answered June
’s questions about the life of Our Lady and also talked about other Catholic holy women. June’s favorites were Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Hildegard of Bingen because of their ecstatic visions. June was anxious to learn more about Hildegard when she learned that the Catholic nun began having visions at the age of three. Sister Noel borrowed a book from the convent’s private library so they could read together about the holy mystic from the twelfth century. Hildegard was known to be a great visionary as well as an author who wrote about theology and medicinal plants. The holy woman held a position of great authority in the Church and had the same influential power as a bishop, which was unheard of for a Catholic woman at any time throughout the history of the Church. Although, unlike June, the holy woman had kept her visions a secret for many years. June was convinced there was of a connection between her and Hildegard. She prayed to Hildegard to help her become accepted by her family and church, just as Hildegard herself had finally been.
June felt Sister Noel taught her about the women saints to be supportive of her psychic abilities.
“If these ladies could be good Catholics, why do I get in trouble for saying what I see?” June had inquired of her mentor.
Sister didn
’t answer right away. When she did, she said, “I know how painful school life has been for you since you are so curious as well as a bit outspoken.” She tipped her head sideways and smiled kindly.
June laughed, knowing the nun was right about her saying things that upset people.
“Perhaps people can’t accept the possibility they could be in the presence of a visionary,” Sister Noel added.
At their last meeting of the school year, sadness overcame Ju
ne. But Sister reminded her they would be together in September when June would become her student in the fourth grade. Their time apart suddenly didn’t seem so terrible to June.
Before they parted, June
’s mentor had given her a gift of a midnight-blue book with a small picture of the crescent moon on the cover. “This is your journal,” she said. “Write about your feelings and thoughts in it.”
All in all, this was a very good time for the formerly troubled girl. As she sat on the rooftop, she again became lost in her imagination of what her sisters might have planned for her birthday. She absent-mindedly stroked a neighborhood cat nuzzling against her, purring. Maybe they would take her to Playland to see Laughing Sal. She erupted in giggles with the image of the wide-girthed, red-haired, freckle-faced woman laughing hysterically.
Hearing her father mumble in the bedroom next to hers, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands to muffle her snickers. The startled cat objected to her sudden action and jumped back into the tree, causing the girl to laugh even harder behind her hands. Still, she kept her mirth quiet, not wanting to awaken the wrath of her father.
What June didn’t know was that her father was also part of the surprise, having given the girls permission to dine out; a rarity for the MacDonalds. Eating in a restaurant was a luxury Jimmy and Cathy couldn’t afford. Annie had assured him they would use their babysitting money to pay for June’s special surprise gift. With a big smile, Annie had added they would also like to stay out until nine o’clock, three hours past their Saturday curfew. She knew asking to be home after dark was the boldest part of their plan. She assured her father that at six o’clock when the movie ended, they would go directly from the Castro Theater to a neighborhood restaurant, The Big Jive. They would come home right after they ate.
She had smiled sweetly at the end of her presentation, just as Maggie had instructed her to do.
“Can we, Daddy? Please?” she asked.
Jimmy listened in silence, keeping his eyes on the boxing match on television. He kept his daughters on a tight schedule, without giving them hardly any free time to themselves.
Cathy sat across from him darning a pair of his woolen socks. She thought Annie’s plan sounded reasonable enough, but would wait to see what Jimmy had to say first. The girls obeyed his strict rules of coming home after school to clean, cook and do their homework. Sundays were always reserved for church and family activities. But Saturday was their day for fun, their mother told them. She made this clear to her husband whenever he tried to pile on extra chores on Saturday.
“You
r mother might need your help with dinner,” he said, finally turning his dark hazel eyes on Annie.
“
You know Jimmy, that’s not such a bad idea,” Cathy spoke up. “You and me could do something special, too.” She understood her daughters wanted to be with their friends.
“You
ever been to this, what’s it called? Jive place?” Jimmy asked Cathy.
“
Once. Met with some of the women from the PTA. It’s no a bad place,” Cathy said, darning away and not mentioning it was a popular hangout for the teens in the neighborhood to congregate after school as well as on Saturdays. He probably thinks the girls and me are plotting against him again
,
she thought.
Annie stood still, biting her lower lip. Cathy caught a slight movement from the living room
’s sliding wooden door. She knew the other two conspirers, Maggie and Mary, were outside the room listening with bated breath for a reply.
The clang of a bell from the television set announced a boxing round was over.
Cathy put down the sock and gave Jimmy a sly grin “Let’s go to the Edinburgh Castle for fish and chips and a wee drink with Sandy and Nancy. We could try and be home by nine, at least.” She was confident her husband would jump at a chance to see his Scottish friend for cocktails, as well as have time alone with his wife. Thus, the plan was set.
The chill of the late night finally permeated June’s cotton robe and nipped at her bare feet. After blowing a kiss to the cat sitting on a tree branch, she raised her arms to the moon once more. An unexpected image flooded her mind. It was of steely blue ocean waters with waves lapping up over the feet of a beautiful young woman. The young woman had long, wild, flowing auburn hair. Her arms were outstretched.
June str
etched out her hands a bit more imagining she was touching the young woman. A sudden jolt like an electrical current zapped her. “I know it’s you, angel,” she whispered into the night air.
As she stepped into the house, the moon suddenly lit up her bedroom so that she saw the clock next to her bed read two minutes after midnigh
t. Joyfully, June realized she was already nine-years-old.
* * * * *
THE CASTRO THEATER
WITH SATURDAY’S CHORES completed,
the girls went upstairs to their bedrooms to get ready for the movies. Excited to get going, June grabbed a light green sweater off her bed and raced into Annie and Maggie’s bedroom.
Her sisters were jabbering
about some boy Annie had a crush on. They were laughing about the time when they were walking past Eureka Valley Park and the boy had tried to talk to Annie, who had rushed away from him. June remembered him. He was a tall gangly guy with deep-brown hooded eyes. His thick blond hair fell across his forehead in a curl with greased-back sides, called fenders.
When they were a block away Annie had said,
“Don’t you think he looks so handsome in his alpaca sweater?”
Their friend Jeannie sneered,
“His pants are pegged so tight his legs look like sticks.”
Annie
’s friends said he was a bad kid. It was true, he was. The rumor mill spread the story of how he had crashed a stolen motor scooter into a palm tree on Dolores Street and ran off before the police arrived. Jeannie told her he had been kicked out of Mission High School and was now a student at a trade school. In agreement with her girlfriends, Annie knew he was not a good match for a Catholic schoolgirl.
“
You love him, huh?” Mary playfully elbowed her sister.
Annie blushed, squeezing her brush against her chest.
Pleased somebody had finally tongue-tied their older sister, June listened while the others teased Annie unmercifully about the boy. Excited by the fun, she piped up, saying Annie was “moonstruck.”
Mary responded to June
’s comment by making a funny face like a person who was swooning and moaning. “I’m mooning over my lover boy,” she kidded.
June liked seeing Annie moonstruck. It added a pink glow around her body.
“I sure hope he’s there today,” Annie said longingly.
June had never heard her sister speak so pitifully.
Maggie assured her she had heard he would be there. She advised her sister on how to act when she saw him. “Give him a real quick look. Maybe a tiny smile. But then turn away fast. Flip your hair, like this.” A demonstration was given. “Act like you don’t care a thing about him. That’ll get him real interested.”
June covered her mouth and tried not to snicker.
Annie’s eyes portrayed her dismay at her sister’s advice. Maggie kept brushing Annie’s straight blonde hair, trying to make it curve around her face a bit. Finally realizing it was hopeless, she pulled it back into a high ponytail like her own.
“
Mary, go get your black scarf,” Maggie instructed. “We’ll hide the rubber band and it’ll look really neat.”
Mary jumped at a chance to help Annie
’s transformation and ran to her room.
“
How can she flip her hair if it’s tied up?” June inquired.
Maggie ignored the question and turned
up the small transistor radio sitting on the dressing table. She finished Annie’s hair and held up a few lipsticks for Annie to choose from.
“
Pink,” Annie said
Maggie tossed the lipstick into a large handbag along with her black eyeliner pencil, rouge, mascara and a can of Aqua Net hairspray.
“I’ll do your make-up when we get to the Callaghans,” she said.
“
Daddy’ll get mad if she paints her face,” June reminded her sister.
“
Well, only if big mouths squeal on us,” Maggie told her. “Anyway, Annie’s fourteen. That means she’s a woman. Not a little girl, like some people we know.”
Mary popped back into the room to announce,
“It’s almost noon, let’s beat it.”
The girls left f
or the movies together. When reaching the Callaghans’ house, they separated. The two younger sisters were told to go on ahead and save a place in line. When Mary started to protest, Annie reassured her, “We’ll be right down. We’re just going to get Jeannie.”
Mary hesitated as she watched her older sisters bouncing up the steps. Rebelling against her task, it was on the tip of her tongue to yell out,
“Why am I always stuck with June?” Then she remembered it was her little sister’s birthday so she just turned away and started walking rapidly down Castro Street.
Brian Callaghan came out to join June. The youngsters followed behind Mary, happily talking to each other as best friends do. When the three arrived at the Castro Theater, the line of kids was already up to Market Street. There were lots of greetings and chatting with friends as they moved to
the rear of the line.
June kept bobbing her head out of the line, looking for her two other sisters. Finally, she saw them racing up the street toward the theater. Annie trudged behind Maggie, Jeannie and Loretta, which June thought was weird because Annie usually was in the lead. When they arrived, June saw why her big sister was hiding.
Maggie had generously applied pale pink lipstick on Annie
’s thin lips and drew black lines along the upper lids of her big sister’s gray-blue eyes. Black mascara was added on her blonde eyelashes. The make-up had an amazing effect on Annie’s eyes. The blueness became magnified, giving them an alluring appearance.
The four older girls stopped where Mary, June and Brian waited in line.
“Va-va voom,” Mary said to Annie, who rolled her eyes and blew out her pink lips.
“
She looks boss, huh?” Loretta said.
“
Move over, Brian,” Jeannie ordered.
The kids behind them in line heckled the four girls when they cut in. But the disgruntled crowd clammed up when Eddie Gallagher and his sidekick, Larry Owens, showed up. Maggie flashed Eddie a Mona Lisa-like smile with her orange colored lips and black pencil-lined eyes. H
e looked adoringly at her. He leaned in close to hand her something and his hand brushed against the front of her black sweater. June felt Mary’s stocky body next to her tighten at the sight of them knitted together. Annie looked away disgustedly.
Maggie thanked Eddie and sent him on his way.
“Hey, here’s passes to get in,” she said to her group. “Be cool. Just walk over to Mr. Newman,” she instructed, jerking her head toward the pudgy balding man in a lumpy gray suit taking tickets at the door.
“
I’ve got money for June and myself,” Annie hissed to Maggie, who shrugged her shoulders and turned away from her older sister.
“
It’s wrong to use those tickets. It’s like stealing,” Annie said trying to reason with her. June knew, as did her sisters, Annie thought it was her duty to teach her sisters not to sin.
In a hushed
tone Annie reminded Maggie it would be an insult to the kindness of Mr. Newman, the Castro Theater’s owner. He gave Holy Savior School free movie passes to reward deserving students––such as the crossing guards––for their community service. Eddie Gallagher and his buddies would sneak into the small hall closet by Mother Superior’s office where the tickets were kept and take a few extra ones for themselves.
Maggie turned away from her big sister ignoring Annie
’s righteousness. She made a detour toward the back of the line to a classmate. Pulling him out of the line she brought him to join her group. The kid hung back with uncertainty, not wanting to draw attention to himself. June felt sorry for Tim, the boy caught in Maggie’s grasp. He was new at Holy Savior and the only African American there. In fact, he was the first Negro student to ever attend the neighborhood parochial school. Maggie had become his first friend. Annie and Mary agreed with Maggie about how out of place he must feel, having experienced that several years ago when they first came to America. June couldn’t remember that time, but she did know how difficult it was to be different from others. She always said a happy, “Hello!” to Tim, to help him feel liked.
Maggie, Loretta, Jeannie, Mary
, and Tim disappeared into the movie house. Annie pushed the little kids ahead and moved toward the cashier’s box.
“
Did Maggie commit a sin?” June inquired.
The youngest MacDonald wondered if Maggie was a bad Catholic as she had been accused of being. Although lately she had begun to feel released from her past sins, June s
till needed to learn more about how to be a good Catholic girl so as not to upset the nuns or her father. If anyone knew how to be a good Catholic, it was Annie. With her face furrowed in a worried frown, she waited the verdict on Maggie.
“
Yes,” her sister replied piously.
Anxiety continued to gnaw at June. She wanted
to know if it was a mortal sin––a sure-fire ticket to hell.
“
A mortal or venial sin?” June asked, wanting to understand the severity of Maggie’s action. Annie didn’t hear her. She had already stepped up to the cashier’s box with her little white coin purse opened to pay the fifteen-cent entrance fee.
June hoped
Maggie’s sin wasn’t mortal. Sister St. Pius warned the class that anyone who committed a mortal sin would go to hell after death, never to see God. It must be the lesser sin, June thought, like when your mother tells you to say she’s not home when a salesman is at the door. That wasn’t a really bad lie nor a bad sin.
The whole group met in front of the candy counter inside the theater. As part of her birthday celebration, Annie handed June ten cents and told her to choose two candy bars. The birthday girl chose a Peppermint Patty to share with Mary and a Big Hunk, from which she might give Maggie a bite.
The opening scene of the first movie,
“The Diary of Anne Frank,” had just started when they entered the darkened theater. An usher led them down the aisle with his flashlight and sat them two rows down from a row of older boys. June tightly held onto her candy bars as she stared at the screen, entranced by the face of the young actress playing Anne Frank.
A t
remendous sadness overcame her. Although she didn’t know what the film would be about, she knew it would be painful to watch. She wished the second movie, “Darby O’Gill and the Little People,” would have been shown first so they could have left earlier for her big surprise.
Halfway through the film, popcorn started hitting Annie
’s hair. June was just about to ask her who was doing that bad thing when Jeannie’s husky voice hissed, “It’s gotta be Dave.”
“
Be quiet,” Annie whispered, not turning her head around to see who it was.
“
That’s the boy who likes Annie,” June informed Brian.
“
Yeah, I heard Jeannie tell Sadie all about him,” he whispered back.
June was still not used to hearing him call his mother by her first name. No other kids did that, but the Callaghans were different.
“Is he nice?” she asked. She wanted Annie to have a nice boyfriend.
“Dunno. Jeannie said
he hangs around the park. I saw him there a lot, smoking.”
June knew a
bunch of big boys and girls hung around the park. Her father had warned the girls not to go near them. He said they were punks.
Brian cupped June
’s ear and whispered, “I heard he did a real bad thing.”
June pulled away from him, wondering if Dave was a sinner, because that
’s what bad people are. Curiously, she stretched her neck and turned to look behind her at the row of boys, but it was too dark to see him.
The older boys behind them started making loud kissing sounds. A few others called out Maggie and Jeannie
’s names. Neither girl turned their heads to acknowledge them, although both giggled quietly.
“
Let’s go to the bathroom,” Maggie whispered to Annie. Not wanting to be left behind, June joined the herd of girls who simultaneously got up and emptied the row of seats. Brian started to leave with them, but June said, “We’re going to the Ladies Room.” He sat back down. They scooted up the darkened aisle past the teen boys who watched their exodus.
The dim lights in the Ladies Room made it difficult for June to clearly see the faces of the teenagers lounging on an old overstuffed couch and passing a couple of cigarettes between them. The teen girls, ranging from fourteen to sixteen-years-old, eyed the newcomers with a head nod. A few mumbled, “Hey.” Although the girls didn’t all attend the same schools, they were all Eureka Valley girls and therefore knew each other to some degree.
Annie ignored the teens and walked past them and into the other room where the toilet stalls were located. Maggie went to the long vanity c
ounter with a large mirror running the length of it. She motioned for Loretta to join her. Jeannie leaned against the wall, hands in her jeans pockets, a small smile on her face, eyes diverted from anyone’s face. June stood between the rooms looking shyly at the teens.