“merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along.
merrily we roll along over the deep blue sea.”
“not that way.” mimi interrupted betsy’s rollicking song. “this way—notice i did not say this a-way. i’ve learned one thing at sheridan. ‘merrily we ride along, ride along, ride along, merrily we ride along over the broad highway.’”
“but highway doesn’t rhyme with anything,” betsy protested.
“who cares! hurrah—we’re off—it could rhyme with gay; if you insist, ’cause that’s how i feel. this whole back seat to ourselves and we’re going places. whoopee! i’m afraid to open my eyes too wide for fear i’ll find out i’m sitting in study hall instead of zipping along this grand new road. i’ve held my breath for days, i’ve been so scared something would happen and we wouldn’t get off.”
waiting was the hardest thing mimi ever did. when she wanted anything she wanted it badly and wanted it right then. the two days she waited before dr. barnes finally gave her permission to go on this wonderful spree were a month long to mimi. from that happy minute when dr. barnes, through mrs. cole, had said “yes” mimi had trod lightly lest she burst the shimmering bubble of their precious plans. now it was all coming true. the weekend bags were packed and stacked at their feet. dit was on the front seat with jack evidently having a good time. mimi could see how she kept turning her head toward jack and smiling up at him and talking. strangely jack was even better looking than his picture. the photographer hadn’t caught his friendly twinkle. when he took both mimi’s cold little hands and said, “so you’re the kid betsy keeps writing about. i need another little sis.” without saying so, he was showing more than how nice he was. he was telling mimi that betsy liked her; liked her enough to write jack about her, to invite her on this thrilling trip. she unfolded a fringed plaid blanket and spread it across betsy’s knees and tucked the other end over her own. she’d make betsy glad she asked her instead of an older friend.
“isn’t it all too precious?” she sighed contentedly as she nestled down. she stared down the rolling road which cut a straight black strip through the hills. without opening her lips she said to herself, “hojoni, hojoni.” no need to say it aloud. betsy was probably feeling the same thing—beauty and happiness, but let her say it to herself her own way. mimi liked to keep her magic word private unless some one was in real trouble and needed to find the way.
“how long will it take us to get there, jack?” betsy had to ask twice before jack heard or heeded. he was finding the trail happy, too.
“in time for supper, i hope. i had the dickens of a time getting a reservation for you all. i finally got one room. i’m staying at the house.”
mimi knew that he referred to his fraternity house. betsy had told her how popular jack had been at school. she had two of his old annuals and a picture of his chapter.
“we can manage fine,” dit was saying, “can’t we, girls? sleeping is one of the best things we do at sheridan—sometimes in classes. we aren’t coming to nashville to sleep.”
mimi didn’t care if she never slept again. she was so full of tingles and throbs she couldn’t sleep if she had her own ivory bed from home. forever afterward when she recounted her good times at sheridan, one of the first things she remembered was this trip.
the sun had sunk behind the hills and the bare trees made black outlines against the graying sky before they reached the suburbs. traffic had increased surprisingly in the last five miles. once jack swerved so quickly to avoid a collision that the car had poised the fraction of a second on two wheels before he straightened it. mimi and betsy rolled from one side of the back seat and back to the other. cars, cars, cars, two abreast, often three abreast going to the city. the pigstands were surrounded with carefree travelers making loud boasts about tomorrow’s score.
“might be a good idea for us to eat supper out here, somewhere,” dit suggested. “i imagine every place in town is packed and jammed. what do you think, jack?”
“depends on how hungry we are and what you want.”
mimi wouldn’t dare tell how famished she was. it wouldn’t be polite.
“i had thought we’d go on in, if you all can last another half hour, and eat at a waffle place i know. it is off of the main ‘drag’ and while it will likely be swamped too, they can take care of us and i believe you all would like it.”
“shall we check in at the hotel and freshen up first?” dit asked.
“i think you look swell as you are. this is what i’d planned. speak now, all three of you, or forever after hold your peace, if it doesn’t suit.”
“o. k.,” the three agreed.
“i thought we’d go to the waffle house and eat just as we are. then i’ll get you all settled in your room. while i go out to the house to change, you all can rest, dress, do what you please. then we’ll put the kids in a good movie and we’ll do the town.” this last was to dit.
“couldn’t be better,” was the verdict.
that’s how mimi and betsy found themselves jammed in the lobby of a movie waiting for the feature to be over so they could find a seat.
“if mrs. cole could see us now,” betsy exclaimed, “no brother, no chaperon, no ball-and-chain of any description, she’d faint.” mimi felt like a bird out of a cage too, as they watched.
the crowd came out.
“get set,” mimi kidded shoving her head between betsy’s shoulders. “give me some interference and i’ll lug the ball through.” mimi knew a lot about football. she had watched the kids at home play on the corner lot; had even played a time or two herself when there weren’t enough without her. honky had told her a lot about it, too. he played on b. g. hi.
“signals,” betsy answered.
“seven-eleven-hike,” mimi answered shoving hard.
by pushing and scrouging and holding to each other, they managed to plow down the aisle to two seats. the newsreel was on flashing pictures of a suspected kidnapper across the screen.
“i’d like to spit on him,” mimi hissed to betsy as she popped the folding seat down. all the hatred she felt for fritzie with the tattoed arms, freida, and the short man, who had cast a blight on chloe’s life, was in that sentence.
“i’d like to scratch him and kick him,” betsy hissed back. she was thinking of chloe too.
“wonder what sue and chloe are doing?” mimi said.
“study hall,” replied betsy scornfully.
then realizing how rude it was to even whisper at a talkie they gradually became interested in the comedy. it was popeye and he made mimi shriek with delight but the tattoed anchors on his brawny forearms were an ugly reminder. they pricked the back of her mind and she was not quite happy. before the feature was well begun and, as she was beginning to lose herself in it, a sudden commotion riveted her attention to the back of the theatre. there was a regular stampede. mimi and betsy turned to each other inquiringly. each hated to admit she did not know what was going on. they were not in the dark long. soon every one in the theatre knew what was up and, at least in spirit, joined in the celebration. the supporters and pep squad of the visiting team had crashed the show. they overran the lobby, the aisles, and the cheer leaders vaulted the orchestra pit to the stage. after five minutes of yelling and bedlam in general they left as suddenly as they had come. the heroine’s voice sounded small indeed in the void they left behind them.
what next, mimi wondered, but nothing else happened until the girls were out of the show. they were only a block and a half from the hotel and jack had given them explicit directions. he had even spoken to the clerk at the desk. in case they made the wrong turn en route they had only to look up and around to see the big neon sign of the hotel flashing welcome.
“let’s window shop,” betsy suggested before they covered the half block.
“suits,” mimi replied.
up and down church street, up and down fifth avenue, hand in hand, the girls strolled exclaiming in front of this window and that. the jolly crowd jostled them but the girls elbowed along and laughed back.
“i always imagined new orleans was like this at mardi gras time,” betsy commented. “wouldn’t you love to go?”
“if it were any more fun than this, i couldn’t live,” mimi replied.
“let’s get a sundae before we go up.”
“you think of the grandest things,” mimi answered following betsy into the crowded drug store. there were no vacant tables so the girls sat on high stools at the fountain and dangled their legs. two butterscotch sundaes appeared and disappeared.
“let’s make a night of it while we have a chance,” mimi said twirling around on the stool and walking over to pay the check.
“anything you can think of?”
“candy! doesn’t this look grand? i’ll get a dime’s worth of bonbons and you get a dime’s worth of caramels, that is unless you prefer some other kinds. let’s end the evening with candy.”
it is a wonder they were not ill the next day but they weren’t. they felt fine. mimi could hardly contain herself. they were so sound asleep when dit had come in that she rolled them over to make room for herself without waking either. they slept soundly as tired babies. that is why they were so fresh this morn.
“wonder what time dit came in?” mimi whispered to betsy in the bathroom. they had managed to get up without awakening her.
“none of our business,” betsy replied. “let’s dress right quickly and go down to the coffee shop and eat breakfast and have dit’s sent up for a surprise.”
“suits.” mimi had picked up this word at sheridan and she found it an apt answer to many questions.
the two felt very important walking on the thick carpet to the elevator.
“i don’t know if it’s being away from daddy and mother dear or being fourteen or what, but i am beginning to feel so grown up. after this hotel experience i feel i could go on most any trip and take care of myself.”
“you should never have any trouble, not you, with all the questions you can ask.”
“all right, smartie, i’ll ask you one. what do we eat and what shall we order for dit?”
whatever they ordered they ate quickly so that they could get back to the room to waken dit before her tray was sent. in spite of their hurry, someone else had wakened dit. when the girls walked in, she was standing in the middle of the room in her negligee hugging a cardboard florist’s box almost as tall as she.
“mums!” she cried, “mums—it couldn’t be anything else.”
dit was right. when she had snapped the green tape, raised the lid and torn back the damp oiled paper there were six gorgeous big yellow chrysanthemums.
mimi and betsy looked on with envy. oh to be grown up and have beaux who sent flowers! mimi was sure at that moment she could never love a man who forgot to send flowers.
dit’s fingers trembled as she took out the card.
for my three girl friends
to wear to a vandy victory.
jack.
mimi’s merry blue eyes shone. betsy’s cute eyes glowed with pride. after all he was her brother.
there was nothing in the room large enough to contain the flowers. they made the vases top heavy. after toppling the second one over, mimi tried the metal waste paper basket and it leaked. as a last resort they thought of the bath tub. while they were filling it, dit’s breakfast came.
“another surprise,” she cried. “what nice hostesses you girls are.”
indeed it was a day of surprises and one of them was not so nice.
jack called for them in a taxi to go to the game.
“this way we can go right to the entrance of our section. otherwise, we’d have to park, no telling where or i’d have to drive you all up and go park the car and take a chance on finding you again. i don’t want to lose you,” he added to all three but he meant dit.
the taxi reminded mimi of her gloomy arrival at sheridan. however, this was fun. there was only room for three on the back seat of the cab so mimi sat on a little seat that folded down from the side. jack insisted on using it himself but mimi really liked it. she clung to the strap as they bounced along, sure that nothing in the world could be more fun. she felt so dressed up with her new beret which she wore down over one eye as millie had worn her sailor hat at camp. mimi knew everyone they passed admired the big yellow mum she had pinned so carefully to her lapel. she had to be careful when she turned her head that way. the cold yellow petals caressed her chin.
when they piled out of the taxi jack bought them something else—cute little footballs dangling on black and yellow satin ribbons!
“wait ’til sue and chloe see these!” she said to betsy as they followed the usher down to their seats.
“be sure and save your program, too,” she said to betsy. “watch me and if you see me chewing mine or tearing the corners off, slap my hands.”
but mimi forgot even her own program when the team came out. the running, kicking, passing fascinated her. it wasn’t the first time mimi had wished she were a boy. still if you were a boy you’d have to send flowers, not wear them.
“wish they’d hurry and start,” jack said. “it’s our game if the rain holds off. the dope says vandy will win by two touchdowns. but rain would make it anybody’s game.”
“let me be a kill-joy for just once,” betsy said to mimi. “look.”
mimi’s eyes followed betsy’s finger.
“do you see what i see?”
“ugh!—uniforms—almost like ours.”
betsy was pointing to the rows and rows of ward-belmont girls.
“i can almost see mrs. cole! betsy, you old meanie!”
the rain held off until the show between halves was over. mimi would be thankful for that always. this was her first big game and the show of the pep squad and the band was a brand new thrill. marching feet, martial music, perfectly timed yells. mimi could not keep her eyes from the cheer leaders. she watched their every move. when she got back to sheridan she would try some of those antics herself. forming of the great v and the singing of “alma mater” took mimi’s breath. she stood reverently and throbbed to every note.
before the last words were finished the rain which had been threatening since noon began. it came in torrents. this was the only unpleasant thing of the whole trip.
“shall we leave?” jack asked.
“no, no, a thousand times no,” came three answers.
jack turned his coat wrong side out and turned his hat down. the girls buttoned up their coats. mimi wished for her old felt hat so she could turn it down. a trickle from the beret was tickling her nose. she squinted her eyes. she was glad she didn’t use make-up or her face would look streaked and ugly as some of the ladies who had looked so lovely in the sunshine.
the game became a scramble. mimi hated to see the jerseys of the players get muddy. soon you could not tell one team from the other. time and time again the referee called time out to dry the ball. it was a mess. mimi didn’t know the final score for sure until she asked jack. she knew vandy won and for that she was glad.
“we won’t be able to make any time driving back to sheridan,” jack said when they were safe from the shower in a taxi.
“that means we’d better start as soon as we can throw our things together,” dit said.
“couldn’t stay over?”
“no, i promised mrs. cole we’d be back tonight and also that i would not ask for extended permission. that’s the usual thing and dr. barnes doesn’t like it.”
“who minds a little thing like rain?” mimi asked. “betsy and i don’t. we’ll be ‘singing in the rain’ all the way home.”
and they did.
they sang until they were so hoarse they could hardly whisper by the time they arrived at sheridan. jack was afraid they had taken cold.
“we aren’t hoarse, mrs. cole,” betsy said later. “it’s so late we are whispering and trying not to disturb.”
mrs. cole hustled them off giving them time for only the briefest thanks and goodbyes to jack.
when they turned on the light in tumble inn to waken chloe and sue, they found only two empty beds.
“well now that is something!” mimi declared. she was still clutching her weekend bag in one hand and a wilted flower, a wet program and a faded little football in the other.
“you’ll have to sleep with me,” betsy said.
that made everything all right except mimi felt she would pop if she had to wait until morning to tell about the marvelous time she had had. telling it was going to be almost as much fun as having it had been.
