SENIOR PROM
The committee’s plans for the Senior Prom met with many setbacks. There
was trouble on all sides, but finally everything was settled. It had so
long been delayed that it was May before the big night finally arrived.
It was the main event in the lives of the Seniors. It was a night they
had long awaited and dreamed of.
If the night were to exceed Gale’s dreams it would have to be gala
indeed. For months, ever since the night she had asked Brent, Gale had
lived the Prom secretly in her heart many times. Brent had gone to
Washington to take up his position with the air company, but he wrote
her long, chatty, amusing letters. And she answered in kind. She had
been desperately afraid he might forget he had promised to take her, but
there was no danger of that. The day before the Prom Brent came to
Marchton and upon insistence from the whole family stayed in the guest
room at the Howard house.
Now here she was, coming from the dressing room where she had left her
wrap, meeting Brent, tall and handsome in his formal clothes. Gale felt
her heart must burst with happiness. She had no idea how lovely she
herself was, flushed with the excitement and happiness of the evening,
but Brent had.
The ballroom was crowded. Gale felt as though she scarcely knew the
young people there. There was such a difference. Formal clothes on the
boys and long, fluffy gowns on the girls changed the hail-and-well-met
chums of the campus to dignified young people. The committee had spared
no pains to make the night one to be remembered. The ballroom was
decorated artfully with the school colors. The orchestra played smooth,
sweet rhythm.
“Happy?” Brent asked.
Gale sighed. “I didn’t know I could be so happy.”
Over his shoulder—she could just about see over Brent’s shoulder—Gale
smiled at Phyllis dancing with David Kimball. She was delighted on
Phyllis’ account. It had been a long time before Phyllis dared plan to
come to the dance. There was Valerie dancing with Peter Arnold—and
Janet! Janet with Mark Sherwin and having the time of her life. That was
easily determined by the rapt expression on her friend’s face. Gale in
her long acquaintance with Janet had never seen the latter look so
demure and sweet.
Carol was there with her favorite basketball player, as was Madge with
the boy next door. In fact every one Gale knew was there and well they
might be. It was the goodbye social affair for them. In another month
they would be graduating from high school. Then would come vacation days
and then college.
Mingling with the other young people she knew Gale felt happy. She
danced with the other boys and Brent danced at least once with the other
Adventure Girls, but Gale was happiest when she was dancing with Brent.
At other times they talked a lot, they always had something to talk
about, to discuss, to laugh about, but tonight they were for the most
part silent. Gale felt it was all a dream. The reality was even more
sweet than her dreams had been.
Down the smooth expanse of floor Brent guided their progress, winding in
and out among the other dancers, to the wide French windows that led out
onto the terrace of the Country Club. It was an exceptionally warm night
for the spring and startlingly clear. The stars were out doubly strong
and the moon beamed with, it seemed, whole-hearted approval upon the
pleasure of the young people.
With mutual consent they found a little stone bench in the seclusion of
a willow tree and sat down. The night was scented with the sweetness of
blossoming flowers. Gale leaned her head back against the rough trunk of
the tree and closed her eyes. She felt if something didn’t happen soon
to remind her she was actually here she would simply burst with
happiness and contentment. It was like a setting in a play—the garden,
a boy and girl, and in the distance the faint murmur of music.
“Isn’t it lovely?” she murmured.
Brent had eyes not for the night, but only for Gale. He said as much and
she smiled.
“I mean it,” he insisted. “Gale—” his voice had become gentle, low, and
desperately serious. “I want to marry you. No, listen, hear it all,” he
said, as she would have spoken. “I know, you are going to college, you
want to do a lot of things. I want to amount to something and to have
something real to offer you. It will take time. But I had to tell you
now. I’ve thought about it a lot lately—I’m always thinking about you.
Tonight I—I just had to tell you!”
“I’m glad,” Gale whispered.
“If you will wait, Gale, it may not be for long, but I want to give you
so many things. If you will wait for me—for a little while, Gale——”
Gale listened to his words, her heart beating fast. It was true she was
going to college, she wanted to finish growing up, to have a chance in
the world, and with Brent working for the same goal as she—— When she
looked up there were actually tears in her eyes. “Oh, Brent,” she
whispered, “I’ll wait—I’ll wait forever!”
When they went back into the ballroom Gale’s eyes were a little
brighter, her cheeks a little rosier, and her hand nestled cozily in
Brent’s possessive grasp. Her friends noted these things and Valerie and
Phyllis smiled knowingly. They fully appreciated how happy Gale must be
and the minute they could, when they were alone in the dressing room
preparing to leave and drive out to the country to a little place for
waffles, they each kissed her.
“Has it happened, Gale?” Phyllis asked.
Gale blushed. “Nothing is to be said, but I’m so happy, Phyl!”
“I’m glad,” Phyllis said, and she meant it.
Gale and Brent were both favorites with the Adventure Girls. In the
short time they had known him Brent had won a place beside Gale in their
affections. They liked his ready smile, easy-going nature and
sociability.
The evening ended with Gale, Phyllis and Valerie with their three
escorts, driving out into the country where they had hot chocolate and
waffles, and then by a long, roundabout way, driving home in the
moonlight.