"They took her! They took her!"

Kenickie screamed in a panic. Kenickie stood next to his 1947 Chevy Bel-Air, his blondish-brown hair looking unusually tousled, and his hands stuffed in his denim pants pocket were shaking heavily. His blue eyes were full of alarm. I could plainly see he wasn't sure what to do. His eyes bore into me, his best friend, as if I had the answers…I didn't.

I felt my heart drop every time he attempted to figure out what had happened. It was like watching him put together pieces of a puzzle that had been warped by water that just could not fit together anymore. I had no clue what to tell Kenickie. I wasn't sure exactly what had happened and why…all I knew was that his girlfriend, Rizzo told him she was pregnant and then disappeared. Kenickie had planned to marry her; so when she told him, he saw it as the perfect vehicle for asking her.

Sounds like a no brainer, right? They should be able to get married, have their baby, live happily ever after and all that jazz, right? Well, not this time… it was much more complicated than all that. You see, my pal Kenickie and his gal, they're still pretty young. It's also 1960, and although some things may be changing, most things are still stale, and just about everyone's folks still care way too much about what others think. What would the neighbors say? They would rather lie about their lives then let on that they're not living in Mayberry.

I'm wondering if that's why Rizzo disappeared. Did her parents send her off somewhere to have the baby? Somewhere her baby would be taken from her and given to a respectable married couple? Would they plan to have Rizzo return as if nothing ever happened?

I reverted my attention back to Kenickie; if I didn't know better I'd say his eyes were welling up…I've never seen Kenickie cry ever. I've been Kenickie's go to guy since we were old enough to break into his folks' liquor cabinet and here he stood, desperately looking at me, needing somebody to help him.

"Danny, you have to help me man…please…I have to find her." His voice choked, and he looked at me with desperation, but I didn't know anymore about Rizzo's disappearance than Kenickie did.

"Kenickie, you think that maybe her folks could've found out about the kid and sent her somewhere?" He looked immediately interested as if I could've said "Hey man maybe she moved to Russia" and he would've considered it. Anything sounded good at this point.

"What do you mean?" he looked at me as if I knew something important; details that were vital to finding Rizzo. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'm just saying" I paused and lit a cigarette trying to think of a way to explain my theory.

"Remember what happened to Lucy Lyons? She said she went to visit her grandparents but everyone knew what really happened. Robbie Peters knocked her up and her parents practically shunned her from the family and sent her somewhere to have the kid." I waited. He looked at me as if STUPID were written on my forehead in big, red letters.

Kenickie laughed and slapped his palm to his forehead and looked at me like I had no idea what the hell I was talking about.

"Danny, are…are you stupid man? Think about it! She didn't say shit to her folks; we were going to run off together..."

He paused and seemed to give it some thought though. "That's what was planned anyway...I thought."

I knew he was upset; I took a few drags and leaned against the Bel-Air. Part of me wanted him to just get over the chic, yeah she was a good girl and I never seen the guy so enamored before, but I just wanted my buddy back. What I said must have made sense though, because he looked at me suddenly and asked:

"You think that's what really happened?"

I half heartedly smiled and reminded him:

"You know how crazy her parents are man, always trying to get her to go to church and shit, they didn't even want you – or any guy hanging around her."

Kenickie shrugged at me, he wasn't quite sure everything I said was completely accurate but he remembered the trouble they had the first time he came to meet her parents, the first time he took her out, the first time they stayed out all night. Everything was coming together for him and it was starting to make sense. Her parents had to have found out and done something with her. The town was small enough for word to get around. Rumors spread like wildfire here.

I waited for him to say something but he just stood there thinking, his face showing any number of different emotions at once. Finally, he came back to reality and his eyes popped up.

"I don't know man, all I know is sitting around all day thinking isn't going to help Rizzo, and we have to find her man."

"That's what I've been saying, you have to…we?" Kenickie looked at me again like I had no clue what I was talking about…again. Here we go.

"Danny, how the hell do you think I'm supposed to find Rizzo without someone's help? I have no idea where Rizzo is but you have to help me find her, she's been like a little sister to you since middle school, you can't bail on us man!"

I rubbed my eyes in exhaustion knowing he was right but I was too lazy to take action…after all it was summer, and it wasn't my girlfriend…but, they have both been there for me for well… ever, there was no way I could just leave them in a ditch like this.

"What if her folks are trying to make her give up our baby?" His voice lowered.

"I can't let that happen Danny…I can't" He was right. I put my hand on his shoulder reassuringly,

"Of course I'm going to help you man…what else have I got going on right now? So, where do we start?"

"When I find out who the hell told my folks, they're going to wish they were never born." I kept silently telling myself this. That first day on the train on my way to this place was the worst. After being scolded for being a heathen, sinning, committing adultery and whatever else my crazy parents could think of, they promptly put me on a train to the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of other girls in my…situation. I don't care what they try to make me do, I'm keeping this kid, and Kenickie promised we'd run off together. So, maybe we're not married, but I can't imagine loving anyone more than I do Kenickie. We did things a little backwards, we always did. Why do I have to be condemned for it? Wouldn't it be more acceptable to just let us get married, sure people might question why this baby was born so early, but that's an easy lie to get out of.

I'm in some dog ugly nightgown they give every girl here, covers you from head to toe and it's made of some itchy polyester, just another way to punish us I guess. It's funny, the guys who did this to all these girls never get imprisoned like this, no public shame, all the blame goes on us…like we did this to ourselves. Damn shame. All these other girls, they got the shit end of the stick. All knocked up by some real losers who dumped them the second they found out. Nobody in here's as lucky as me; no one else here has a Kenickie. I thought he might freak out when I told him; I had no clue what to expect. Don't get me wrong now, he was shocked, scared, but he also had this glint in his eye, like maybe we could do this.

I shake myself out of it, I can't let this stuff get to me, not here and not now. I'm not giving up on Kenickie, we'll be together if it's the last damn thing I do. If I can't break out of this joint on my own, well Kenickie knows me, he knows I'd never leave him, he knows how much I love him - I hope. I wrap my arms around myself and lay back down.

"He'll find me. I know he will"