WIP: DYNAMIC DUO OF THE OZARKS

	“Do you think you are ready for that test?” Slick asked Clint as they ate breakfast in the cafeteria Monday morning.

	“I'm never ready for a test, but I have to take it,” Clint answered.

	“I drilled you enough in study hall yesterday, you should be able to pass it,” Slick tried to boost his friend's confidence to no avail.

	“Should...but I probably won't remember a thing I studied,” Clint lamented while picking at his scrambled eggs and bacon. He looked up at Mykel and asked his roommate. “What did you do after lunch, while I was at study hall?”

	Mykel got a cocky smile on his face and boasted, “I'm glad you asked. I spent Sunday afternoon with three, not one, but three girls watching TV and eating popcorn from Katz!”

	“Well, well, well! You're social status is improving!” Clint said. “I'll bet good money that one of those girls was that Sherry girl from 420.”

	Slick pointed at Mykel with his butter knife, “If one of them was that battleaxe with the bad eye, I'm going to stab you with this!”

	“Oh no, Alice was going to Howard Johnson's for lunch with some of her sorority sisters,” Mykel explained in a snarky voice. “Sherry turned her down to hang out with me. The other girls were Grace and Debbie.”

	“And you were in our room with those girls?” Clint inquired for more dirt.

	“And those big popcorn sacks from Katz,” Slick added. “No telling what other sins were committed in that room.”

	“No, no! We were in the TV room in the basement, watching some one of those Sons of Hercules movies on the big color television.”

	 Owen interjected, “That was a cool movie! I watched it at my parents house. I love those movies.”

	“But Owen, you didn't have girls and popcorn, while you watched the movie,” Slick chuckled. “I hope you bought those ladies some Pepsi, Coke or something to drink with those big sacks of popcorn.”

	“Actually, I drove them to Katz to get the popcorn and king size bottles soda,” Mykel explained. “I'm glad Katz is open on Sunday and they allow you to buy soda and popcorn.”

	“I wasn't there, but I'll bet good money that Grace spilled or knocked over something,” Clint said with a smile. Slick, Henry and Owen laughed.

	“She spilled a cup of ice, but nothing too messy,” Mykel acknowledged Clint.



	Mykel came back to his dorm room after his classes. He turned on the radio on the desk for some music to keep him company. As usual, it was on K-I-L-L. In twenty-four hours, Mykel would be going to work for that radio station. He was excited about it. It was appropriate that, at that moment, K-I-L-L was playing Roger Miller's ode to TV kiddie show host, “Kansas City Star.” Mykel hoped maybe he could become the “Spring Valley Star,” even if it wasn't a clever play on the name of a famous newspaper.

	The room had gotten hot while he and Clint were at class, so he walked down the corridor and propped the door open, then turned the heat down. Mykel sat down on his bed and pulled out his copy of Winesburg, Ohio to read for class. He was getting to the point in the first chapter where Sherwood Anderson tells the reader that Wing Biddlebaum, may or may not, touched a young boy inappropriately and was fired from his teaching job, when there was a knock at the door, followed by a cheerful voice, almost singing, “Knock knock!”

	Mykel jumped up from the bed and raced down the corridor to see Sherry coming toward him. “I thought we would study for history class. Do you mind?”

	“Oh Hell no! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have cursed in front of you,” Mykel blurted out aghast that Sherry just showed up with the intent of studying with him. She laughed at his reaction.

	“I'm not offended. I kind of thought it was funny,” Sherry assured Mykel. “Mind if I sit on your bed?”

	“No, be my guest,” Mykel answered as he was wondered when the alarm was going to ring and he would wake up from this dream. He walked over a sat down in the chair at his desk.

	“No, come over here and sit by me,” Sherry scolded him with a slightly perturbed expression on her face. “We can't study very well with you sitting over there.” Mykel got up and cautiously sat next to Sherry on the bed.
   	
	In the background, Roger Miller said, “Stay turned, gonna have a Popeye cartoon in a minute.” Followed by a jingle, “THE MOST POPULAR RADIO STATION IN THE GALAXY! THIRTEEN HUNDRED – K-I-DOUBLE-L IN SPRING VALLEY MIZZ-OO-REE!” Mykel hoped the next song would be a rocking garage band, British Invasion band or soul song. Maybe they would play another funny song like “Little Annie Fanny” or “Surfin Bird.”  Unfortunately, they let Mykel down and played “Green Peppers” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Not just a romantic sounding song, but a sexy, romantic song. The radio station let him down. This was going to be nerve wracking. Mykel was going to be sitting on a bed with a pretty girl while sexy music played. He was afraid this could get ugly.

	Sherry opened her text book to the first chapter and took out a mimeographed study guide. “Do you know what carpetbaggers are?” she asked Mykel.

	“Guys who sold carpet remnants by the bag,” Mykel quipped. Sherry smiled and giggled slightly. 		  

	“No, but that was a pretty funny answer,” Sherry admonished his attempt at humor. “They were people from the North, who Southerners felt were moving into the South to take advantage of them. They were called that because they carried luggage made from the same material as carpets.”

	“THE BIG THIRTEEN HUNDRED – K-I-DOUBLE-L WITH HERB ALPERT AND THE TIJUANA BRASS WITH 'GREEN PEPPERS.' I'M LOVABLE LANCE POWERS AND HERE IS THE LATEST FROM MERRY OLE ENGLAND. IT'S DAVID JOHN AND THE MOOD AND THEY ARE 'DIGGING FOR GOLD' ON THE BIG THIRTEEN HUNDRED – K-I-DOUBLE-L!,” the radio reminded them that it was still in the room. Thumping drums, a clinking pickax sound and echoing voices began singing, “Gold, gold! We're digging for gold! Gold, gold! We're digging for gold!” after the DJ's intro. Mykel relaxed because, while this was a cool song, it was not mushy and romantic.

	Sherry continued with pointing out the important things they had to remember for the upcoming test. Mykel understood that he was going to be tested over this material, but he really wasn't interested in the Reconstruction or the Civil War. He was more interested in Sherry, but he wanted to keep that under wraps, until the time was right. So, he thought the best thing he could do was continue to be silly. Sherry's text book was open to a page that featured a photo of Thaddeus Stevens.

	“Have you noticed the pictures of the people in this chapter?” Mykel observed. “Everyone back in those days was ugly.” Sherry snickered at the comment.

	“Especially that guy,” Sherry laughed. “He is really ugly. If you think about it, President Lincoln wasn't what you would call good looking either.” Sherry sat her text book and notes down on the bed and politely asked Mykel, “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

	Mykel answered, “Sure.” Then as he watched her walk down the corridor to the bathroom, he had a thought that maybe he shouldn't have allowed her to use their bathroom. What if his underwear was in the floor? She is so clean, what if it isn't clean enough for her? What if the bathroom smelled bad? The anxiety began to race through his mind about the same time David John, on the radio, was singing “I'm going out of my mind – going out of my mind – yeah yeah -going out of my mind!”

	“BOY, THAT DUDE WANTS THAT GOLD! I HOPE HE SHARES IT WITH ME. I'M LOVABLE LANCE POWERS ON THE BIG THIRTEEN HUNDRED – K-I-DOUBLE-L. YOUR FIRST NATIONAL BANK TIME AND TEMPERATURE (beep-beep) SAYS IT IS TWENTY-NINE DEGREES IN SPRING VALLEY AT ONE FORTY-FIVE ON MONDAY. HERE'S GLORIA JONES AND 'TAINTED LOVE' ON THE BIG THIRTEEN HUNDRED – K-I-DOUBLE-L!”

	 The toilet flushed and Sherry returned grinning at Mykel. She reached into her purse and retrieved one of those little bottles, she carried, with the concoction of witch hazel and peroxide. She dabbed it on her hands and rubbed them together so frantically they might have caught fire.

	“Does that really keep germs off of your hands?” Mykel asked.

	“I'm not sure how effective it is,” Sherry explained. “But it can't hurt. My dad says there are germs on everything you touch.”

	“That is a happy thought,” Mykel quipped. 

	“It's scary how something so small can cause so many problems,” Sherry mused about germs, then turned her attention to the weather. “Did they say what the temperature is outside?”

	“Twenty-nine, I believe,” Mykle answered. “At least we aren't having snow like the rest of the country. That is one thing I like about Missouri is there is not as much snow. It's also not bitter cold from November until April. I hated wearing big, heavy coats, scarfs and mittens – Oh how I hated wearing mittens!”

	“Did you have to wear fur clothes like those people in that movie we watched yesterday?” Sherry laughed. “We were telling Kathy about their fur clothes – especially the furry boots – last night, when she got back from the Catholic youth center. Can you imagine women walking around in big furry boots like that? Your feet would get so hot in those things.” She paused and then smiled at Mykel. “Speaking of which, would you mind if I slipped my shoes off. My feet are kind of hurting in these shoes.”

	Mykel said, “No, go ahead, if it makes you more comfortable.”

	“Thanks!” Sherry said, reaching down to pull of her brown loafer and dropped it on the floor. She slipped the other one off and just let it hang off of her foot, as she swung her legs off the bed, back and forth. “Ooooh! That feels so much better! I should have known better than to wear these shoes to walk across campus.” She pointed her foot downward and the loafer slipped off her foot, hitting the ground with a thump. Mykel watched as she wiggled her toes inside her nylon hosiery. “I guess it could be worse, I could be wearing those big, furry boots those women were wearing in that movie we watched yesterday. Can you imagine women wearing big, furry boots to the supermarket or church? Boots, like that, would never become fashionable. I bought those go-go boots, that I have been wearing, and they get to be hot on my feet. I would have to think what heavy fur boots would be like.”

	“I guess if you were a nomad, crossing the frozen tundra, you might be glad to wear those big furry boots,” Mykel replied, as if this was a serious intellectual discussion.

	“Was that movie supposed to be taking place during the Ice Age?” Sherry asked, stilling swinging her legs back and forth off of the side of Mykel's bed. He was beginning to think she was doing this to hypnotize him.

	“I'm never sure about those movies. That certainly looked like the Ice Age, but the main character was called the son of Hercules and Hercules lived in Ancient Greece, which was long after the Ice Age,” Mykel tried to speak with some authority to impress Sherry, although he really had no clue about ancient history. He decided to speak on a subject he knew more about, which was media production. “Those movies are made in Italy and they add to dialogue in this country. I think they kind of change the story and character names, when they translate it into English. Matter of fact, it seemed like every time the main character said his name, a different voice came out of his mouth. It was like they changed his name, at the last minute, and had to have another person read those lines.”

	“I noticed that too. What exactly was the name of that movie?” Sherry asked.

	“I think it was The Fire Monster Against the Son of Hercules,” Mykel answered. “Why do you ask?”

	“I thought that for my scrap book of memories, I would write 'On Sunday, January 23, 1966, I spent the afternoon watching The Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules on a color TV, eating popcorn and drinking Pepsi with a cute boy'...or something like that,” she explained, while rubbing Mykel's back and smiling at him.  A K-I-L-L jingle blared from the radio, followed “Red Roses For a Blue Lady” by Vic Dana. A romantic song! That was the last thing Mykel needed. She moved her hand from rubbing his back and ran her fingers through his hair. “Who also has the nicest hair of any boy I ever seen.” He grabbed his text book, Building a Democracy, and opened it across his lap, because Sherry's behavior was causing him to develop an erection. He couldn't let her see the effect she was having on him.

	“Wh-where were we in our studying?” Mykel nervously asked Sherry.

	“Have we discussed Wade-Davis yet?” Sherry said, as she removed her hand from Mykel's hair and placed it on his shoulder.

	“Who was he?” Mykel wanted to get back on track, but he was having trouble concentrating. 

	“It wasn't a man, it was a law named after two men,” Sherry explained. “Do you know what it did?”

	“That was to stop Confederate politicians from voting or holding office and required Southerners to take a loyalty oath,”  Mykel answered.

	“They also had to abolish slavery and renounce the secession,”  Sherry added to Mykel's answer. Her hand was still planted on Mykel's shoulder. “I don't know how much of that we will need to know.” She looked at her notes and then asked Mykel, “What did the Fourteenth Amendment do?”

	“The federal government granted civil and legal rights to Negroes, slaves and people born in the Untied States,” Mykel answered, as Sherry moved closer and laid her head on his shoulder. “But they didn't get to vote until last year.” Mykel was getting nervous and beginning to perspire. He was thinking 'Why is she doing this?'

	“Shame that it took that long,” Sherry observed. “But they also wouldn't let women vote back then either.”

	“We can't vote for another three or four years,” Mykel reminded her. “Probably LBJ will get re-elected in 68.” 

	“Speaking of which,” Sherry observed. “The President during the Reconstruction was named Johnson and he took over from President Lincoln, who was assassinated, just like President Kennedy was followed by a man named Johnson.”

	“Yeah, that is kind of weird,” Mykel said.

	Sherry looked at her notes and then asked Mykel, “What did they call white Southerners, loyal to the the Union during the Civil War?”

	“Scalawags!” Mykel said in a Robert Newton-ish pirate voice, which made Sherry laugh.

	“That's a fun word to say...scalawag!” Sherry laughed and then, placed her hand on Mykel's knee, then slid it up on his thigh, giggling the whole time. Mykel felt himself coming unraveled. He was shaking like a dish of Jello. There was only one part of his body that had any firmness and he was still trying to keep that hidden with his text book, but he was afraid it was about to knock his book into the floor at any moment.

	The radio seemed to want to interrupt Sherry's overly tactile behavior, but it wasn't working. “THE BIG THIRTEEN HUNDRED K-I-DOUBLE-L! VIC DANA WITH 'RED ROSES FOR A BLUE LADY' WHO SHOULDN'T WEAR WHITE AT HER WEDDING! I'M LOVABLE LANCE POWERS AND I SHOULDN”T TALK ABOUT THINGS LIKE THAT ON THE RADIO. I SHOULD BE QUIET AND LISTEN TO 'THE SOUND OF SILENCE' WITH SIMON AND GARFUNKLE ON THE BIG THIRTEEEN HUNDRED K-I-DOUBLE-L!!!”

	 Sherry smiled and looked Mykel in the face and asked, “Mykel, can ask you something and I want the truth...”

	The Twilight Zone inspired guitar chords played as Art and Paul quietly sung, “Hello, Darkness, my old friend...” in the background.

	“Do you like me?” Sherry asked Mykel. Point blank she hit him with it right between the eyes and she had her hand on his leg so he couldn't get away. “I wanted to ask you that, because I really, really like spending time with you, but if you don't like me, I won't bother you anymore. I already know what it is like to be with a boy who doesn't want me around.”

	“Are you kidding? I'm happy you are wanting to hang out with me! I've wanted a girl to pay attention to me since I've moved to Missouri! I really like you, Sherry Ridenhour!”

	 “Could you prove it? Would you give me a little kiss?” she asked with a smile.

	“You bet I will!” Mykel shouted. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

	Sherry leaned forward and closed her eyes, “Now kiss me on this lips.” Mykel was surprised with that request but he complied. As they kisses, Sherry's hand slipped, knocking his text book off of his lap and into the floor. She then opened her eyes and began giggling after her hand touch a tell tale bump in his lap. 

	“Well, you really are happy to be with me, aren't you Mykel?” she giggled at the awkward discovery. “For someone who hasn't kissed a girl, you did a good job. Let's practice some more.” She put her arms around Mykel and they disregarded the need to study for the test over the Reconstruction of the South for the rest of the afternoon, preferring to master the skills of love making.


	Later, Mykel and Sherry walked over to the Campus Union to the cafeteria to eat supper. That sat with Kathy, Grace and Debbie. 

	“Thanks for taking us to Katz to get popcorn and soda pop, Mykel,” Grace said.

	“We need to watch a movie in the TV lounge together next Sunday,” Debbie said. 

	“I guess we can, at least until baseball season starts,” Mykel agreed to the girl's suggestion. 

	“What movie did you guys watch?” Kathy asked.

	“The Fire Monsters Against The Son of Hercules,” Sherry answered before taking a drink from her iced tea. 

	“Oh my! Was that one of those movies, made in a foreign country, where the actors mouths don't move in sync with their voices?” Kathy asked. “Those are fun to watch.”

	“Everyone was wearing fur clothes, except the main character,” Sherry added. “He looked like he was just wearing his underwear. He wore his hair like Elvis, which I don't think was historically accurate. At least the movie was in color.”

	Clint and Slick sat down with their food trays and began to eat their evening meal. They complained about the basketball practice they had just finished, while they ate. The girls finished their supper and went back to the dorm. Sherry gave Mykel a kiss on his cheek before leaving. Mykel noticed that Slick was staring at him.

	“Mykel, do you have razor burn on your neck?” Slick ask. 

	“No, I don't think so,” Mykel answered.

	“It looks like a rash,” Clint said. “Or pimples.”

	“Where at?” Mykel was getting worried.

	“The left side of your neck,” Slick informed him.

	“Looks like it is under your chin too,” Clint pointed out.

	Mykel touched his neck. “I don't feel any bumps or anything.” He then looked at his hand and noticed it was streaked with bright, red  lipstick. He then turned his head toward Clint and Slick. “Is it on my cheek?”

	Clint and Slick began laughing when they realized that Sherry had tagged Mykel all over with her lipstick. There was a lip print on his cheek, where she had just kissed him and some just under his bangs. “It's on your forehead too.”

	Slick laughed, “We have proof now. That girl likes you, Mykel!”