Ricky did call me the day after the dance. Within a week I had my first steady boyfriend.

I bought skeins of yarn in every shade under the rainbow. Each day, I wound a new color around the base of Ricky’s class ring, so it fit my finger. Once in a while, I wore his ring on a chain around my neck. I wanted to wave a big sign that read I HAVE A BOYFRIEND.

Ricky wrote me love poems. One was titled ‘Is She Just a Friend, Dear Lord?’ Another, simply titled ‘Mary,’ began as follows: I love a girl named Mary, she is smooth and soft not hairy. I was a bit choosy about which poems I showed the girls at school.

“You haven’t shown my poems to anyone have you?” asked Ricky.

Oops! Fortunately, he was on the other end of the phone line and couldn’t see the look on my face. “Of course not, I replied. “I keep them hidden in my room and read them every night.” Hey, at least the last part was almost true.

Ricky also serenaded me with religious songs. Sitting on the glider at Bochi’s porch, Ricky sang, “I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows.”

We held hands, gazing into each other’s eyes while he sang. It wasn’t my first pick of songs, but finally I was doing real boyfriend and girlfriend stuff. We even had our song; Cherish, by The Association.

Mom and Bochi sat inside, watching us out the front-room window. Unbeknownst to me, David and Susan hid on the side of the house spying on us. David made the mistake of telling me afterwards. I wasn’t too mad, because I liked having a boyfriend to get spied on with.

Ricky was spiritual in other ways besides church songs. He believed in supernatural spirits. To prove to doubting David they existed, he set up a séance at my house. I doubted too, but he was my boyfriend, so I defended him.

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We were much cooler looking

“Put your fingertips on the table and close your eyes,” instructed Ricky.

We did as he said.

“Our fingertips need to be connected in a circle,” he added.

We opened our eyes, and after a little manipulation we formed an unbroken ring of fingers.

“If any spirits are near, show your presence by lifting this table into the air,” Ricky softly commanded. Then he chanted, “Rise table rise.”

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Rise table rise

“You’ve got to say it with me. And you’ve got to believe.”

I squinted my eyes open after the fourth round of rise table rise. David ‘s open eyes looked back at me. Two more rounds of chanting did the trick. Our card table jiggled and began rising.

Ricky and Susan gasped, and their eyes flew open. The table suddenly dropped back to the floor.

“Holy cow, I guess I was wrong,” said David. ”There really are spirits at work.”

After Ricky left, I thanked David for his table assist.