THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

From the Terrace: June 27, 1915.

   It was the new custom in Port Johnson to have a Young People's Party in late June. It took place at the Idle Hour Tennis Club at the far eastern end of town, and it was in the nature of a get-together for the members' children who were home from college and boarding-school, many of whom would be leaving shortly for the seashore and mountains. . .

(In attendance were Alfred Eaton, his sister Sally, the young woman he loved, Victoria Dockwiler, and Peter Van Peltz, who after the dance in the early morning of June 27th dared them to drive with him in his brother Harry's Stutz Bearcat. Over Alfred's objections, Victoria got in the car).

   Alfred and Sally were still seven blocks away from their grandfather's house. They walked on in silence for about four blocks.
   "Here they come," said Sally.
   The red roadster, brand new, picked up the light from the street lamp at every intersection. Victoria was holding her skirts down, The car had no windshield or doors and was proceeding slowly until Peter saw the Eatons. He sounded the Klaxon, which now had a particularly contemptuous tone, and then accelerated the car . . .
   At five o'clock in the morning a farmer discovered the Stutz and, a  minute or so later, the bodies of Peter Van Peltz and Victoria Dockwiler.

(And at the end of the day, part of a conversation between twenty-five year-old Norma Budd and Alfred Eaton):

   "I love you," he said.
   "I love you, I love you. Don't go away from me just yet. Please stay."
   "You're lovely, Norma, lovely."
   "I'm happy. I know I'm wrong, but I'm happy."  
   "I am, too."
   "But not wrong. Don't ever be afraid to take what's given to you. That would be wrong. What's the date?"
   "The 27th of June, 1915. Why"
   "Well, don't you want to remember it? It's the day I first became your mistress."
____
In From the Terrace the story of Alfred Eaton and Victoria Dockwiler  stands on its own. The same for the story of Alfred Eaton and Norma Budd. Combined, these two stories are a novella.
   







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