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.

Cousin Fred is studying to become 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.

Cousin Fred, who rents across the street, knows that Alice’s brother has moved out.

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 and his father is a professor, so he might know something about scholarships.

He then decides to check with Dave to see if there will be something about the comet anywhere. Fred then called his friend Dave who was studying astrology. Dave notes there will be a lecture tomorrow at 10 p.m.

Will your parents let you attend a lecture at 10 p.m. Fred asks?

I will convince them, Alice assures Fred. She prepares a small overnight bag, since she plans on staying out, no matter what is decided by her parents.

Well then, see you tomorrow afternoon, Fred concludes and gets back in his car

Given that this good looking girl is known to be seen reading on her porch in the afternoon, her parents are rarely around and her brother recently moved into a rental with friends because his stepfather beat him, Alice might want to go to a late lecture. She definitely was ready to leave home and could use some help probably.

Alice is back to her cement porch in time for her stepfather to exit the house. She doesn’t bother asking her stepfather because she knows he would say NO. He is not concerned much about what she likes or doesn’t like.

She hurries into the house to find her mother, who usually wants her to help making dinner for eight.

Her mother asks for a little help as usual. Alice gets up the courage to ask if she can go to the college for viewing the comet.

Hey Mom, can I go to the college tomorrow to see a lecture about the comet, she asks.

Where does this come from? Who do you know at the college? I haven’t met anyone there yet.

Cousin Fred, introduced me to the guy from the apartment across the street who told me there is a lecture at 10 p.m. tomorrow about the comet. Let me go please, Alice pleas.

Betty holds firm. No one in this family has ever gone to college. You have school .

Now Alice goes to bed having much to think about. Her brother has moved out of the house with some friends. She may have to do the same. But when? She prepares a small overnight bag, since she plans on staying out, no matter what is decided by her parents.

Fred arrives on time the next day. There is time to chat about going to college, how much it costs, scholarships, where to find one. Dave’s father is a professor, so he should know something.

When they arrive at Dave’s, 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, she accept 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 likes the kiss but breaks it off before it gets too intimate.

Ready for school, she is again waiting on the porch, but this time the porch belongs to Dave and she’s waiting for Fred, who offered to give her a ride to school.

On her night out nothing bad happened, so she’s on the right track by going to college she thinks.

But just then she hears noise coming from inside the house. Someone, presumably Dave’s father, whom she met last night, yells ‘where is it’ and starts throwing things. Fred arrives before she can figure out what’s happening.

Alice sits up in Fred’s car. Her curiosity gets the better of her and she finally asks, Is there a problem between Dave and his father?

Fred then explains Dave’s sad story, saying that his father is an excellent physicist, so he is wanted at Los Alamos, but his mother never really liked it where they eat peppers and things like re-fried beans, and she had a heart attack when Dave’s father was away at an observatory. No one ever forgave his absence.

Alice telephones her mother when she gets to school. They argue, mom wants her at home, Alice explains that she finally had a calm night without her stepfather coming to get her out of her bed. Her mother doesn’t want to believe her second husband would do such a thing, but she understands Alice wants to leave home. Alice no longer wants to do everything her mom says anyway. She wants to study at college. She has begun to think about studying astronomy. She already keeps track of shooting stars that she likes as a pass time. Her curiosity was touched by her ability to find a supernova.

Dave may have a little family trouble but hers is worse. She likes the way he smiles and how he smells of after shave, the one her mother gets at Christmas for her uncle. Alice knows she must have a college education to get a good job. Her aunt has a good job and a beautiful diamond ring that she not only admires but wants one of her own. .