When Darry got home he started digging through the closet, and found a somewhat dressy blue shirt and a pair of black slacks. He decided that would be good enough. What about a tie? He thought. He hated ties so he decided against it. They would just have to accept him without a tie.
He got the iron, and went into the living room. Soon enough Soda walked into the room, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He saw Darry ironing the shirt.
"What's that for?"He asked, while chewing. Darry felt a little defensive about the whole situation, but he had to say something.
"Remember how you said I've been single for too long?" He asked Soda as he finished ironing and hanging the shirt on a hanger.
"Uh-huh," Soda nodded, looking puzzled at Darry and taking the last bite of his sandwich.
"Well," Darry paused not sure what to say. "Alison is a pianist, and she invited me to see her play at the Music Hall on Saturday."
"The Music Hall?" Soda gave it a whistle. "That's like a fancy place."
"I know," Darry sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "tell me about it."
Soda was thoughtful for a minute, "so you kind of like this chick then?" he wiggled his eyebrows.
"I kind of do," Darry replied, all of the sudden feeling uncomfortable and looking down. He swallowed hard, and Soda laughed at his embarrassment.
"Well, like I said before she's kind of cute."
"There's more to her than that," Darry said firmly.
"You really like her then," Soda laughed again.
At this moment Pony walked into the room. He was going to the kitchen to get something to drink, but saw Soda laughing. "What's going on?" he asked.
"Darry is going on a date with some fancy chick at the Music Hall." Soda snickered.
"The Music Hall? That's really fancy," Pony said, glancing up curiously at Darry.
"That's what I said," Soda agreed, nodding.
"Look," Darry said, a little annoyed, "it's not really a date. Alison just invited me to see her play that's' all."
"Alison, the one that you worked for and she gave you a ride when you sprained your ankle?" Pony asked.
"Yeah," Darry nodded, feeling self-conscious.
"She's really good-looking," Pony approved, "but the Music Hall?"
"I know," Darry sighed again, "what did I get myself into?"
On Saturday, quarter to two Darry was entering the Music Hall. The room was huge with balconies, high ceilings and fancy chandeliers. The lights were dimmed though with a single spotlight on the piano. Darry was nervous and was looking around trying to see what other people were wearing. He was relieved to see that not everyone was wearing a tie. He didn't even put grease in his hair that morning, which he was a little bummed about. He was a greaser and he was proud of it.
Alison spotted him as he walked in, and walked up to meet him. "Hi Darryl," she said, "thank you for coming, let me show you to your seats." At this point Darry hardly heard what she was saying. He was mesmerized by her beauty. She was wearing sequin black dress and a lace shawl over it. Her hair was down and there was glitter in it. She was wearing makeup, but not a lot. Just enough to accentuate her beautiful eyes.
"Darryl?" she called.
"Sorry," he said embarrassed, "you look beautiful."
"Thank you," she said blushing a little, "Let me show you to your seats. It's front row. Best seats in the house." she led him towards the seats. When they approached the seats, he saw an elderly woman and a man sitting in the seats. Bobby was sitting on the woman's lap. Darry realized immediately who they were. They must be her parents, he thought, and now he was going to have to be sitting next to them – awkward.
"Here it is," Alison pointed at the seat. "These are my parents," she added.
"I'm Maria," the woman held her hand out, "I hear you did a wonderful job on that roof."
"Darryl," Darry replied shaking her hand, "and thank you." Maria was wearing a silk brown dress and a big gold necklace around her neck. Her gray hair was in a tight bun. At the moment she had a friendly smile on her face.
"Tony," the guy said next, and Darry shook his hand as well. Tony was wearing a black suit, a white button-down shirt and a black bowtie. He had cufflinks in the cuffs of his shirt. He had jet black hair with gray patches, brushed to the side. He was of a strong built and looked like a pretty tough guy. "Now, I'll leave you here," Alison said, "I gotta go, we are starting in five minutes." She sounded a little nervous.
"You are going to be great," Maria smiled, as Alison walked backstage.
Finally everybody got quiet, and the host announced Alison's name and the piece she was playing. She got on stage and started playing. Darry was sitting next to Maria.
"Oh, isn't she so beautiful?" Maria said affectionately "don't you think?" She asked looking up directly at Darry. Darry felt his face get hot a little - he was sure his face was turning red and it wasn't easy to make Darry turn red, but that right there did it.
"Sure," he said clearing his throat, trying to sound as casual as possible, but it seemed to him that Maria smirked at him.
"Are you married or do you have a girlfriend?" she inconsiderately asked next. That seemed totally out of line to Darry, but the way she said it was very casual as if that was just something people asked all the time. Darry had no choice but to reply. "No, I'm single," he said reluctantly, sinking deeper into his seat.
"Oh," Maria said shaking her head, and her earrings were dangling and shimmering in the light as she spoke. Then she smiled and said again, "Isn't she beautiful? So pretty and talented too." Darry didn't say anything to that, but he was totally captivated by Alison. She looked absolutely beautiful, and the music was really great. Even someone like Darry could appreciate it.
The host announced the next piece Alison was playing. It was Beethoven.
"My favorite composer," Maria said to Darry, "what's yours?" Darry was caught completely off guard. He felt like a school boy that got caught cheating by the teacher. "Mine," he said, running his fingers through his hair, and mentally cursing himself for agreeing to this whole thing, "Mine Beethoven as well."
"My favorite piece is Symphony number nine, but she's not playing that tonight," Maria said, looking through her playbill and then looking up at Darry, "what's yours?" Now Darry really felt humiliated. He didn't know what to say. Then he remembered the piece Alison was playing the other day, what was it called, he couldn't quite remember. "Mine," he cleared his throat, "Moonlight sonnet," he was hoping he got the name right.
"Oh, you mean Moonlight Sonata," Maria corrected him, smiling a little as if she realized Darry was bluffing.
"Yes, that one," Darry nodded. He felt pathetic, and he wished he could just crawl somewhere under the floor.
"It was really nice of you to come today," Maria said next – a serious expression on her face. She seemed not to notice how uncomfortable Darry was.
"Darry been playing baseball with me," Bobby piped up all of the sudden.
"Oh, that's nice," Maria said, patting Bobby on the shoulder. "Do you like playing with Darryl?"
"Yeah, a lot. I didn't know how to play, but he showed me how."
"Well," Maria chuckled and brushed a loose strand of hair off of Bobby's face "my grandson seems to like you, and whoever he likes I like too." Once again Darry was put on the spot, and he didn't know what to say. So he just said, "thank you," politely and tried looking like he was concentrating on the music so they would leave him alone. They seemed to get the message, and for the rest of the show Maria was silent, and Darry finally relaxed a little.
After the whole thing was over, people were clapping and a lot of them walked up on stage and gave Alison flowers. After that she got down and walked up to where Darry and her parents were sitting. To his surprise Darry noticed tears in Tony's eyes. "You were wonderful out there," Tony said to Alison. She smiled softly "thanks daddy." She then looked at Darry and realized he was uncomfortable. There was an awkward silence. "Sorry if that was too much of a drag for you," Alison said to him.
"No, no," he hurried to assure her, "you were great."
They went outside to the car. Darry wanted to ask Alison if he could see her again, but her parents were there, so it was awkward. Suddenly, Maria pulled him aside – "you know," she half whispered as if she was revealing some top secret, "We are throwing her a surprise birthday party in two weeks." She tilted her head to the sides as if to make sure there was no one around, then continued, "I think you should be there. What do you say?"
"I dunno…" Darry started hesitantly, "if it's right…,"
"Oh, stop it," Maria said enthusiastically, looking Darry straight in the eyes. "Of course it's right. In two weeks at three, at her house, I'll see you there," she gave him a knowing smile and a small push, before getting in the car.
Well, Darry thought at least he would be able to ask Alison out then.
"I'll see you around Darry," Alison said getting in the car. She looked a little disappointed, and Darry hoped that she also wished to speak to him, but was not doing so because of her parents or maybe she just wanted him to make the first move.
"Take care," was all Darry said in spite of his thoughts, "bye Bobby," he waved his hand.
"Are you gonna play baseball with me again?" Bobby asked. There was an awkward silence then Alison said, "No Bobby, Darryl is busy."
"But I want to play," Bobby whined.
"Why don't you play with me?" Alison said softly, trying to calm him down.
"But you don't know how to play."
"But you can teach me." That was the last thing Darry heard Alison say before she closed the car door and started the car.
He got in his truck feeling uneasy. It probably wasn't a good idea making the kid used to playing with him knowing that it would have to end. But that's the thing, he thought, maybe it didn't have to end, maybe he could just ask Alison out. He really liked her, and hoped she liked him at least a little bit. She must've or else why did she invite him to see her play. And he noticed how she was blushing when he told her she was great.
Now he was going to see her in two weeks. He felt unsure about it. Will she be glad to see him there or would he be out of place there? He thought maybe he shouldn't go but decided against it. At least then he'd get a chance to ask her out and find out how she really felt about him. But going meant getting her a gift, and he had no idea what would be appropriate. Technically they weren't even friends. He was just her carpenter. That's all he really was. He considered asking Soda's advice since Soda was the ladies' man in the family, but decided against it thinking Soda would laugh at him.
