STARTING ANEW

A notice hanging in the high school hall made her stop short. There was an offer to start college one year sooner. This would get her out of the house that had become a hell hole because of a violent stepfather. He beat her brother but molested her. Her brother had decided to move to a rental with friends, but she was still there.

Fred kept an eye on events across the street, where Alice, a lithe 17-year-old with a beautiful head of hair, was heading down to the mailbox at street level to check if a letter has arrived from a college she has written to for a scholarship.

Fred is a computer technician, a new occupation, not the best for meeting girls. Alice looks good so Fred, knowing she comes from a troubled family thinks it is worth a try. Alice usually reads on her front porch, a big cement porch unusual for Southern California, but just right for a lemon grove, for which this used to be the main house.

Fred, who rents across the street, knows that Alice’s brother has moved out. He suspects Alice is ‘available’.

He pulls into the driveway right next to Alice, introduces himself, and asks what she would like to do and the reply is I want to see Haley’s comet, which will appear the next day. This is not the reply Fred expected.

I see you are looking at colleges from the mail you are getting, Fred notes.

I really want to leave home Alice says, I saw a notice at school that one college was offering the possibility to skip the last year of high school to start college. So I’m getting all the information I can.

But if you skip the last year of high school then you’d miss the prom, says Fred. I’ll take you to see Dave, he just started college so he might know something about scholarships.

Having been to college himself, Fred knows it may not be fruitful to try convincing her otherwise. Instead, he offers to take her to see Dave, an astrology student, studying stars at the local college.

When they arrive, after a brief drive, Dave is searching for a supernova on photographs that appear to be solid black.

Alice says would this be a supernova? Dave has been looking for a long time, so Alice’s immediacy impresses him. He also likes the way she looks, like a diva, not the usual student. This is in the 70’s, before computers did all the work of finding supernova.

Dave’s father is heard more than seen. He is in the front room with a collegue avidly discussing the usefulness of the theory of relativity.

Dave interrupts his father to tell him about Alice’s finding a supernova and introduces her to these professors. Dave’s father looks over Alice, then Fred then tells them Alice is looking to start college and would like a scholarship. Dave’s father looks Alice up and down and obviously likes what he sees, then says he will be moving to Los Alamos, but Dave will know what to do. Professors are able to get discounts on tuition for certain students sometimes. Not being aware of this, Alice is quite happy to discover this..

Feeling in debt to Alice, Dave then offers to take her to see the Haley’s comet lecture at the local college. It takes place at 10 p.m.

Alice is a good girl in a rebellious mood. She knows her mother would not approve, but she doesn’t approve of her mother’s choice of a stepfather either, so she decides to go for it.

She makes sure there will be a bed and a sleeping bag for her, Alice then boldly accepts the offer and agrees to stay the night in the pool house at Dave’s place. Dave feels in debt to Alice because she found the supernova so quickly. There is a bathroom and microwave in a small kitchen area so it feels like a different house. Instead of returning home a cell phone message is sent to her mother explaining her absence.

Dave is happy that Alice is there. He likes her hair so long and full, not straight and thin. Since dad will take off soon, having someone else around will be comforting.

Alice feels disobedient. Her mom found a violent stepdad for them so these astrology types seem perfectly normal and quite generous. She is not offered hard liquor like her mother has taken to having every evening starting at 5 p.m. An avid reader, she is well aware of problems with sex offenders and violence aided and abetted by alcohol.

A no-alcohol evening is just right for Alice along with a look at Haley’s comet.

Being a victim of abuse, Alice has stopped chatting avidly. It is as though she has taken a vow of silence. Her mother is of Irish Catholic origin so she attended a Catholic elementary school. She attended Mass every Sunday until she started public school when Mass became optional.

In her silence, Alice smiles and speaks when spoken to. Fred and Dave don’t mind her silence it seems. Instead they discuss Einstein’s Theory of relativity and how surprising it is to see it applied in everyday life. It is now being used in the new cell phones, which send messages to satellites in orbit around Earth. Although Alice is still studying and doesn’t know much about physics, study would bring lots of things to light, she realizes.

Better than getting stuck in a bar or behind a cash register. Study in college is the best way to go. She knows she will have to pay for it herself, so she has applied for every kind of scholarship she can find.

It is time to go hear about Haley’s comet, so places are assigned in Fred’s car and then Dave’s, depending on who is sleeping where. Being in a very rebellious spirit Alice agrees to stay with Dave because her mother won’t let her stay out so late.

Dave offers a night in the pool house, so Alice ends up with Dave. They have decided that Fred will pick her up in the morning from Dave’s house. She enjoys the lecture and is able to observe the comet with a telescope. She sees all there is to see and then it is time to go back to Dave’s. Alice makes it clear that she wants to leave home because she’s had enough abuse.

Dave thinks out loud. Abuse is illegal, so we may be able to get you out. When do you turn 18, he asks.

In four months, is the reply.

Then I won’t tell if you don’t. You can stay in the pool house. No one uses it anymore, so you should be okay.

Alice happily uses the pool house for the night. Her mother calls, but she doesn’t answer.

Alice accepts very gratefully, and says 'May I stay for a few weeks? 'Dave nods yes and says, 'My father will be leaving so I will be glad to have company.'

Dave then leans down to give Alice a big kiss that isn't too wet. Alice liked the kiss but breaks it off before it gets too intimate.