670
THALIA SELZ
"It's like an ice cream parlor," Vasiliki said, with the faintest
tr~e
of stiffness.
"I'll take you there myself."
He's jealous of me,
I
thought.
I
could have wept to see
things
so turned around. But he had seen my face fall, for he
walked right over and rubbed his nose in my hair-the tenderest
gesture he had ever made toward me. "Don't cry, Betty Boop!
You'll get your ice cream sundae; never fear."
I
burst into tears and ran out of the room.
The next afternoon as
I
came in from school, the phone rang:
Vasiliki inviting me to see
Stella Dallas
and go for
a
sundae after–
wards.
I
had to ask Mother.
"I
think that would be
nice,"
she
said,
rolling out cookie dough.
"I
guess she's interested in Joshua, after
all."
I'll fix that, I thought to myself and dashed back to set ·the
time.
I didn't actually tell any lies behind the white tiled turrets of
Prince Castle; I simply let her convince herself of what she
already
wanted to believe.
"He's really off his rocker, isn't he?"
I blinked.
"Why do your mother and father let
him
hang around, then?"
I shrugged.
"I don't see how you can stand it," she said, sticking out her
tongue to lick her cherry. I proferred her mine, on my spoon.
"Don't ever do that with a fellow, Daphne."
"Why not?"
She stared. Then she hissed, with her face in mine,
"Cherry!
Get it?"
"No. I don't like maraschino cherries; I don't see why I
shouldn't give them to somebody who does."
"You
are
a dope. Cherry is what you've got here," gesturing
toward her lap with her spoon. "Virginity. Get it?"
"Oh." I thought of all the times Joshua had taken me out
for ice cream and gobbled up my cherries greedily. Probably he'd
been mocking me all the time. I hated him for it. "What will
you
do with that box Joshua's going to make for you?"
