“First Date”
A true story, by Mark R. Hunt
It was the summer of 1965 in Rockford, Illinois. I had just turned fifteen. I had asked Becky Nystrom out on a date to the movies. It was to be a double date with Brad Rafella and Monica LaBode. We were going to be driven by my older sister, Polly, in our red, 1962 Chevy Impala convertible, down to the State theater. The movie was The West Side Story with Natalie Wood and George Chakiris. It was a musical, which I wasn’t too keen about, but it was getting good reviews inPolly’s movie magazines. I had ridden my bike about seven miles out to Becky’s place for her sixteenth birthday a few weeks before. Her dad was a doctor. She had a dozen or so kids out in the back yard around a campfire. Her dad ran an electrical cord out from the garage window to hook up her record player. We danced the Twist to Chubby Checker and did the Slide to The Wanderer by Dion.
I had borrowed a blue cable knit sweater from Polly. She was three years older than I and had quite a bit of dating experience. She was being nice to me, and helping me todress up. I think, as I look back on it now, probably because she would be loose on the town with the red Chevy convertible after dropping us off. The movie started at 7:30. We made the plan that she would pick us back up when it was over at 9:30-out in front by the bridge. The Rock River was a block wide there and ran down through the center of town. After the movie, the plan was to go over to the Hollywood Drive-In, to eat Grinders and watch the waitresses on roller skates delivering the trays back and forth to the parked cars.
The pick-ups, ride down town and the drop-off to the movie all went smoth. Becky, Brad and Monica were all a year ahead of me in school, so I was feeling a little intimidated by them, but I was thrilled to have been granted permission by my parents to be able, finally, to go on a real date. We were plenty early, so we got our tickets, went inside, and I bought a large pail of popcorn, a couple of large Cokes, and a big box of Dots. To me there was nothing better than a big ol’ box of Dots at the movies. We hung around the lobby for a while, then went in and found our seats on the left side, middle-back. We got comfortable and started in on our munchies. Becky was not a big talker, and neither was I. Luckily, she sat in the middle next to Monica. Brad and I were on the outsides. Girls can keep up a steady conversation just about anything. They kept talking right up until the movie trailers started coming up on the screen. The lights went darker, and all was going along swell, until I chomped down on about my fifteenth Dot, and when I pulled up on it, I pulled my upper left front peg tooth right out of its socket. Those Dots were like the juiciest, toughest cement glue you could ever test your teeth on.
When I’d started munching on the Dots, I hadn’t been thinking much about my peg tooth. I’d gotten it knocked out by my best friend, Dick Dummer in the fourth grade. We’d been playing baseball at recess. I’d borrowed his glove. The bell had rung and we were all running in from the playground. Dick started yelling at me for his glove. He was quite a ways behind me, so I turned around and gave it a toss back to him. It landed quite a bit short in the gravel driveway. Truth be told, Dickie was a bit of a hot-head. For some reason, he picked up a rock from off the drive and gave it a toss at me. I watched it come in on a big arc. It came all the way in and knocked out the bottom half of my upper left front tooth – kerplunk. Lucky, I didn’t swallow it. We stayed friends after that, but I had to go through quite a lot of dentistry because of it. Every other year, or so, I’d have to have another temporary crown put on. It wasn’t until I was eighteen that I could have the permanent one installed.
When I pulled the peg cap off in the movie house with Becky sitting right there next to me, I didn’t panic. I just turned my head a little to the outside and reached in and pulled out the half eaten Dot that had the peg buried init. I extracted the tooth, tucked it into my jean pocket and popped the half eaten Dot back in my mouth.
I don’t really remember much more about the movie, except that there was quite a bit of dancing and singing. They were good songs though and the dancing was quite spectacular. I was planning and practicing most the time on how I was going to finish off the night, and the after-movie snack at the Hollywood Drive-In, without my datescatching on about my front tooth. Mostly, I’d simply have to work to keep my upper lip pulled tight over my front teeth, and to try and make it look as smooth and natural as possible. It wasn’t easy. You should try it sometime.
After the movie let out, we hung out up on the sidewalk between the bridge and the theater. There was a set of steep steps that led down to a sidewalk that ran along the river. I was looking for a place to hide, so I told them all to keep an eye out for Polly, and I shot down the steps like I wanted to check something out.
Then, just when I got down there, oddly enough, a power boat came roaring up from the north and slid right up to this little wooden pier that had been built near the steps by the bridge. Theguydriving the boat was in a big hurry. He jumped out, wrapped a front rope around a post, said he’d be right back, and then asked if I’d put my foot on the back side of his boat for him. I said sure, and off he tore up the steps.
Well, in about two minutes, the waves startedcoming in so fast that they pulled the backend of the boat out into the river. I remember looking up at Brad and Becky and Monica,maybe for a little help, just before not being able to hold it any longer. Then, I fell down into the river trying to hold on to that guy’s boat, and went completely under. It was pretty embarrassing. Not only had I lost my front tooth, but now I was soaking wet with scummy river water.
When Polly finally showed up, I had crawled back up and out of the river. I tried shaking and drying myself off as best I could, but I was pretty wet. Polly had to get a blanket out of the trunk and I had to sit on that with her in the front seat. Brad, Monica and Becky sat in the back. Polly was pretty concerned about her blue cable knit sweater. She didn’t want me stretching it out. She kept looking over at me and her sweater and shaking her head like Dad would have done.
Somehow, I made it through that first date. We did go to the Hollywood Drive-In for the root beer floats and the Grinders, and I managed to keep my upper front lip pulled down enough to not get caught without a front tooth. I was glad when that date was over. Becky and I did not become a couple after that. We stayed friends and we’d see each other in the hallways and at the games and school activities. She became a cheerleader for the varsity and I played second string for the JV team. All in all, it all worked out. Fifty years later, Dick and I, and our wives, still get together three or four times a year -funny how things work out.