Friday 23 February 1917
Day 1062
Dear Diary,
Me, Lils & Harley are staying at his place for the weekend (not far from home); he lives on this big farm with a lake in one of the back paddocks and woods all around. Harley doesn't like going home, he says his doro's real mean, but I think his vera's nice enough and the lake is great too. When it gets warmer, we're gonna come back to go swimming & fishing.
Monday 26 February 1917
Day 1065
Dear Diary,
Josephine insisted that all of the boys take this quiz today:
ARE YOU A GOOD BOYFRIEND?
Answer the following questions & see if you're as good a boyfriend, as you say you are.
You can use one of five answers per question: 0: Never, 1: Hardly ever, 2: Occasionally, 3: Often, 4: Always.
Mark yourself according to the summing up at the end of the page.
Now the truth, please!
1) Do you bury yourself behind your newspaper at breakfast?
2) Do you postpone shaving until after breakfast?
3) Do you ever refer to her as the 'my girl' or 'my boss' or 'my better half'?
4) Do you suffer her to listen to your stories in front of each new gathering?
5) Do you tell people her age?
6) Do you refer to your relationship as when you 'got hooked' or 'got a life sentence' or 'got whipped'?
7) Do you often say that women 'are so susceptible to flattery' or 'are such gossips' or 'always fall for foreigners' or 'love men in uniforms'?
8) Do you ever drop out of conversations when they get dull?
9) After one drink, do you betray family secrets?
10) Do you ask 'Why didn't you have time, when you had nothing to do today'?
11) Do you bring home 'some of the men from the office' without warning?
12) Do you forget anniversaries?
13) Are you on the defensive with your mother-in-law?
14) Do you tell your girl that her dress makes her look fat, right before a party?
15) Do you wipe your feet before entering a home?
16) Do you put wet glasses on the furniture?
17) When you're home with a cold, do you crave continuous sympathy?
18) Do you leave drawers open?
19) Do you leave the toilet seat up?
20) Do you tell her to keep her wandering eyes away from other men?
21) Do you dance with her less than other women at the party?
22) Do you criticise her food in front of your girl?
23) Do you ask for second helpings when there are unexpected guests?
24) Do you monopolise the bathroom to read for hours?
25) Do you leave your shaving brush & razor on the basin?
26) Do you boast cold showers and insist that your girl take them too?
27) Do you leave large puddles of water on the bathroom floor?
28) Do you, by choice, mismatch pyjama sets?
29) When you come home later, do you wake your girl to talk about it?
30) Are you aggressively firm about turning off the light when you go to bed, even if she is still awake?
31) Does she have to force you to get out of bed?
32) Do you say 'I love you'?
To find your score add your numeral answers together. If your score is:
130, we will finance the proceedings for a public break-up
Between 130 & 120, you should break-up in private
Between 120 & 90, you're in the danger zone
Between 90 & 70, you're fair/just passable
Between 70 & 50, you're good
Between 50 & 30, you're excellent
Between 30 & 10, you're exceptional
Between 10 & 0, you're too good to be true. Try again & be more honest!
Wednesday 28 February 1917
Day 1067
Dear Diary,
It's been pretty weird getting used to all of these new customs that come with being both in the past and being Jewish. I don't know if being raised by a pair of Jews instantly makes ME Jewish, especially with Vera grilling into me as much of the Loric traditions as I can rightly remember, or all of the prayers & stuff that they had us do at St Greg's…Am I even religious at all?
I miss celebrating Christmas with you, Vera.
And that's not even taking into account all these new rules & regulations of living in the past, all of these social cues that seem too archaic to me, but make me look weird for not knowing them. I dunno, it's all so confusing…
Thursday 01 March 1917
Day 1068
Dear Diary,
Me, Lils and Harley are going to visit his family this weekend. We're taking Lila's automobile out to the farm and camping out in the barn. I'm looking forward to it, mostly 'cause Lila was able to sneak a bottle of strawberry wine out of Mr Jones' quarters and Harley grabbed some sandwiches from the cafeteria. The three of us are planning to do nothing but play in the lake & sun ourselves like lizards for a full two days…I keep picturing deliciously lewd moments against those alabaster stones, ones that have my heart racing and turn my mouth dry. Mmm…
Friday 02 March 1917
Day 1069
Dear Diary,
I like Texas. I don't know why I was so worried about living here.
Harley & I played out in the field during supper today, we caught fireflies while Lils traced the stars in the sky. Harley put the fireflies in a big jar that he put on the windowsil in his room, but they didn't last long. Barely a day later and they died, Harley cried. They were so pretty.
Saturday 03 March 1917
Day 1070
Dear Diary,
Dinner was awkward today, because I had to tell Peto & Fena about something that happened at school:
Me: Hey, Peto? Fena?
Peto: Yes? What is it?
Me: I, uh, got into trouble at school
Peto: …Oh? What happened?
Fena: What did you do?
Me: I, uh, said something during class and Mrs Grayson got mad.
Fena: WHAT did you say? [narrowed glare]
Me: Uh, Mrs Grayson set out two cups—one with water & one with whiskey—then she pulled out two worms and put one into each of the cups. The one in the water cup kept swimming around, but the one in the whiskey cup died. Mrs Grayson then turned to me and said, "Mr Hargreeves, what did we learn here today?" So, I said, "What I learnt was that if I drank whiskey, I wouldn't get worms"
Fena: Theodore!
Peto: Haha! [chokes on food/splutters a laugh]
Fena: Elliot! [fighting smile] That's not funny!
Peto: That's—that's true! [smiling] But—but you still need to remember your manners, Theodore.
Me: Okay
Saturday 10 March 1917
Day 1077
Dear Diary,
Mr Peterson said we're going to learn how to use the rifles tomorrow. I don't want to, they're too loud and they keep reminding me of Vera & Doro's arguments. They were loud too.
Monday 12 March 1917
Day 1079
Dear Diary,
I learnt today that Harley had a flapjack song that goes like this:
Flippity-flap, flippity-flap
Put a pancake on the stack!
Everybody, flap my jack!
Flippity-flap, flippity-flap
Put a pancake on the stack
And everybody, flap my jack!
We got one cake on the bottom,
On top and in the middle.
You pour a little batter
And you put it on the griddle!
And when you're all done,
If you want more, you can come back
So, everybody flippity-flap my jack!
Oh, flippity-flap, flippity-flap!
Put a pancake on the stack!
Everybody, flap my jack!
Oh yes! Flippity-flap, flippity-flap
Put on a pancake on the stack!
And everybody flap my jack!
Everybody now! Oh, flippity-flap, flippity-flap
Put a pancake on the stack!
Everybody, flap my jack!
Flippity-flap, flippity-flap
Put a pancake on the stack!
Everybody, flap my jack!
Flippty-flap, put a pancake on the stack
Everybody needs a good breakfast in the day!
Flippity-flap, flippity-flap
Put a pancake on the stack!
And don't take my butter away!
The batter, the batter is soft as silk,
The batter, the batter is buttermilk!
The batter, the batter, the better, the batter,
The bitter, the batter, the batter, the bitter, the batter,
PLAY BALL!
Flippity-flap, flippity-flap
Put a pancake on the stack!
And everybody, flap my jack!
Everybody, now!
Flippity-flap, flippity-flap
Put a pancake on the stack!
And everybody, flap my jack!
Tuesday 13 March 1917
Day 1080
Dear Diary,
Katelyn Monroe from the other tenth grade class, asked me to be her boy today. She's very cute, with long blonde hair pulled back into plaits and shiny grey eyes. She asked me to go to the hop with her, but the thing is, I don't feel like Lila's magazines say I should—all gooey and giddy inside—Maybe it's 'coz I don't know her well enough? But one date couldn't hurt, right? I've even got this neat sweater that I could wear.
Wednesday 21 March 1917
Day 1088
Dear Diary,
I don't know why I'm so nervous for this date when I don't even know if I like her or not. I mean, I've had crushes before (who hasn't?), but apparently that's not the same. If that's not the same, then how am I supposed to feel? I'm so confused.
Thursday 22 March 1917
Day 1089
Dear Diary,
Katelyn broke up with me today in front of everyone. She said it's 'coz I hang out with Lila so much that people talk (what're they saying?) and she's too scary to be around. What's scary about Lila? Okay, playing with the local alligators might be a little weird, but she irons her hair ribbons! What's so scary about that? Anyway, Katelyn asked Finn Johnson (he's pretty too) to go the hop with her instead.
I'm not sure how I should feel about it all, but right now, I'm glad and a little disappointed. I feel like this should be a big deal to me, but it's not…is that weird? Now, I have no one to go with to the dance and it's tomorrow night. I could go by myself, but that would be weird (not as weird as if a girl went by herself, but still) and maybe a little creepy.
Harley got into a fight with Finn about "stealing my date" and being a "man-whore" , punching him out in the cafeteria and got in trouble for it. If it had been Lils (who cheering off to the side), I don't think that Finn would've walked away. Dances aren't really Lila's thing, but Harley said that if I wanted to still go, I could go with him. But I can't do that, he's my brother (or as close as you could get) and that's against the rules! Besides, he's got detention now, so he's not going anywhere, fast. Lils keeps scheming on how to break him out, but I'm just happy that Harley stood up for me like that, even if I didn't ask him to. It was like he was defending my honour, like those knights in the old fairy tales.
Friday 25 March 1917
Day 1092
Dear Diary,
Lila brought home the new Original Dixieland Jazz Band record today (I have NO clue as to how she scored that one, but I'm glad that she did. So, I'm not gonna ask TOO many questions). The three of us all wildly danced around the common room in our socks (Lila dubbed it the 'sock hop' which rings a bell…?) and Harley swung his arms so wildly that he broke one of the flower vases on the table. He got into so much trouble for that, but he didn't care—what's one more offence, when you're already serving time, right?
I had so much fun and I got to wear my sweater afterall.
Monday 28 March 1917
Day 1095
With the war raging across the pond (I have to keep reminding myself to refer to it as the 'Great War' instead of the First World War and people keep looking at me weird when I don't), everyone here is taking bets to see how long it'll take before we (USA) joins in too.
I forget when America joins the war, only that it's soon and it more or less changes the tides. Or is that in the Second World War?