Another section from the new story idea. I think it has potential.
I walked across the campus, to my dorm room located in DuPont
hall. I easily skipped up the three
flights of stairs, which only the day before, had been my fathers bane, as he
carried in my trunks and bags of dresses, while my mom and I carried up the
light bags and boxes of shoes and hats.
I had moved in a day early, as my parents were sailing to Europe
in two days. I had spent the night
alone, in my room, and would meet my roommate for the first time today, and
after my meeting with the dean, what Carrie Meaway would look like, and if like
me, she enjoy the company of women rather than men.
Today the stairs were alive with people, as it was truly moving
in day. Dad’s lugging trunks up flights
of stairs, while like mom and I; the women were all carrying the lighter loads.
Of course, it’s not easy to carry trunks upstairs in skirts and dresses, and
special shoes.
I made it through the congestion to the third floor landing, and
could see a pile of suitcases outside of my dorm room door. As I walked down the hall, I was happy to see
an attractive girl of my age come out of the door and grab a suitcase and go
back in. My first impression was
pleasing to the eye, now I wondered how much she was like I.
I paused outside of the door and asked, “Which bag do you want
next roomie?”
She turned and smiled at me, “Any one you want, you must be
Vanity, hi I’m Carrie, when did you move in?
“Yesterday, my mom and dad are sailing to Europe tomorrow, so I
had to move in early. I hope you don’t
mind the side I took, I didn’t really leave you a choice.”
“Oh that’s no problem, both sides look like they are the same
anyway.”
“That’s what I thought too, can I help you unpack, or is your
mom here to help you?”
“I’d love the help, no one is here to help me now, they had to
leave right after we got it all up here, there traveling to Europe tomorrow
too. Wow, what if they’re on the same
ship.”
Then we stood there laughing like best friends, because we had
both said the name of the same ship at the same time. Then Carrie gave me a
quick hug, and quietly said, “I think we might have more in common than just
our parents sailing to Europe on the same ship.”
Before I released her I softly replied, “I think you might be
right.” And then added, “Let’s get you
unpacked, and then go down get a glass of lemonade, or Iced tea, and go sit
under one of these beautify trees and tell each other our life stories.”
“Sounds Lovely to me, it’s kind’a hectic and mushy up here what
with all of the parents saying good bye.”
I grabbed the next bag from the hall, and asked here where she
wanted it’s contents put. “Top drawer,
that is my lingerie case, and before you ask, no I don’t mind, if you don’t.”
I set the case on the bed next to her dresser, and undid the
straps, and was presently surprised when I lifted the lid and found that her
lingerie was all satin, silk and lace, and the only cotton I found were bobby
sox to wear with shoes.
I sensed her behind
me and heard her say, “One nice thing about my mom, she only wears lingerie
from Paris, and she has taught me to do the same. I bet she will bring back a steamer trunk
full from her trip.”
“Your mom has good taste; I bet you look beautiful, with just
lingerie on.”
Carrie smiled and said “I wonder if there is a place to put this
privacy screen away, I don’t think we are going to need it.”
“Me neither, we’ll find a place for it somewhere.”
We spent the next hour putting all of our belongings away, and then
we carted Carrie’s bags to the storage room for our floor, and checked her bags
in. With that out of the way, we locked our room and went down to the common
area, got a glass of lemonade for each of us, and went in search of nice shade
tree.
We found one, around to the side, which no one else seemed to be
using at the time. We both were wearing frilly
white blouses, and skirts that ended just below our knees. I realized neither of us had thought to grab
a blanket or a towel, “Do you want to sit on a bench or is the grass okay?”
Carrie answered the easy way, she lowered herself down and sat
on the grass. Without even thinking myself, I sat down right next to her,
almost brushing against her when I did.
We each to a sip of lemonade, waiting for the other to go
first. Finally Carrie broke the silence
by simply saying our names; “Vanity Bench and Carrie Meaway, seems like our
parents have more in common than just being on the same ship. It would appear they booth decided to grace
us with names, that will either make people smile, or make people snicker
behind our backs.”
“I know I have experienced people snickering behind my back, I
just think of all of the other types of bench’s my father could have named me,
and be thankful that it is Vanity.”
“I know the feeling; at least they spelled it Carrie instead of
Carry, and before you ask, my grandfather was polish, and his last name was
Meawankowski. The man at Ellis Island,
changed it to Meaway, because it was a lot easier to say.”
I looked at Carrie next to me and smiled: “I love your name, and
a least you have part of your original family name as a part of it. My Grandparents also came through Ellis
Island, which is where our last name came from.
My grandfather was born with the name of Shamus O’Donnellie, and even
though he could speak English, my grandmother was very pregnant with my father
at that time, and grandpa kept trying to get someone to give up their seat on
the bench for my grandmother to sit down. He kept walking up to people who
spoke no English an kept saying bench, over and over. The head immigration man was afraid my
grandmother would give birth while in line, so he moved them to the head of the
line, so he would remember how he got there he had them change his name to
Shamus Bench.”
Carrie was laughing when I got done, “Does it ever bother your
grandfather?”
“No, he loves to tell the story to anyone who will listen, and
at times to those that don’t want to hear the story again.”
So here we are; “Carrie Meaway and Vanity Bench: we either have
to be a law firm, or a vaudeville act.”
“I vote for Law Firm, but then again as a vaudeville act it
could be fun.”
“Carrie, have you met the Dean for Student Affairs yet?”
“You mean Dean Debutante: I did at orientation last month, why
do you ask?” We met this morning, and
had quite a talk. I think she put us
together as roommates because of our names, well at least partially for that
reason. I found out this morning that her
name is Constance Debutante, she also hinted strongly that she is a lesbian.”
Carrie laughed, “I bet she did too, I mean how would you like to
be a Constant Debutant?”
“It might not be that bad, at least she is always invited to a
party, where as when you’re a vanity bench, someone is always sitting on you,
and usually only partially dressed…”
Carrie put her hand over mine and said; “That not totally a bad
thing, at least from my point of view.”
I didn’t pull my hand away, and told Carrie about the party at
Dean Debutante’s house this coming Saturday.
“What do you think, should we go to the normal mixer, or go to the mixer
at the Deans house?”
“I think the Dean’s party sounds like fun, now let’s go meet
some of the other girls and get our schedules, before we become the hot topic
in the dorm tonight.”
“You’re probably right.”
“In that case you may Carrie Meaway, Vanity Bench.”
I rolled my eyes at Carrie, and then gave her hand a squeeze. I
had a great feeling within me that Carrie and I would become special friends
for life. I mean, if we can be this
relaxed when we have just met, imagine when we truly get to know each other.
We took our glasses back to the common room of the dorm, and
then walked across the quad to administration building and got our schedules,
and were thrilled to see that we had three classes together. From the administration building we headed
for the bookstore to get our books, and supplies, and then back to our room in
the dorm, to finish getting settled in.
