Yesterday, I went into detail about the drawn-out process of getting a date to the prom my junior year. Today, I'll fill you in on everything that happened the day of the prom.
In the morning, Mom showed me where my date Rosed lived. We got in my car and drove South of Artesia. There's no actual street addresses out there, which was about seven miles outside of town. Mom had to show me where to turn and where Rosed's house was located. It seemed pretty straightforward.
On the way home, Mom was telling me how to behave on the date. I guess she got it in her head that Rosed and I were going to become an item, but as I mentioned yesterday, I did not see Rosed as anything other than a girl I was friendly with. Mom told me that after I took Rosed home, I had to kiss her. There was no way that was going to happen.
I had been asked by the prom committee to set up some lighting for the prom. I went to the auditorium, got a few light fixtures and a light pole and brought them to the school's commons area, where the prom was taking place. Other people were busy setting up decorations. They wanted me to light up these cloud formations they had hanging from the ceiling. I was able to put the lights in place and illuminate the clouds. I was rather proud of the way the lights came out.
Then the band arrived. It consisted of three guys and one female vocalist. I remember that her face was sunburned. They were from Lubbock, TX. A stage had been set up for the band, but when the drummer started putting his kit together, it was apparent that there was not enough space for the rest of the band. They were going to have to play and sing on the floor. I helped them put their sound system together.
I went home and got ready for the prom. Mom and Dad had gone to the senior banquet. I don't remember where Loyd was, but he wasn't in the house when I was getting ready. I guess he was spending the night at a friend's house.
I took a shower and thoroughly dried my hair. It took me a half hour to put the tux on, piece by piece. (I don't think the tux I wore when I got married was that complicated.) Earlier in the year, Mom had acquired a 1971 MG. It was a real nifty sports car. She let me use it to go to prom.
The time had come for me to drive to pick up Rosed. I got in the car and started driving. It was already dark. I turned where I thought I was supposed to turn and parked in front of the house. Some people came out and I asked thme if Rosed was ready. They didn't know what I was talking about. I knew I was at the wrong house. I had turned too early. I had to drive another mile to find Rosed's house. I was relieved when I got out and found I was at the right location.
She was still getting ready after coming home from the banquet. She came out and her parents took the obiligatory photos. Then we went outside to the car. Her parents were impressed with the vehicle. The mother said she wished they could have taken photos of the car, but it was too dark outside.
We started driving toward the high school. On the way there, Rosed told me that her cousin was going to be at the prom, and he didn't have a date, so it was very likely that he would be dancing with her a few times. I didn't have a problem with that. When we arrived, the first thing we did was run into her cousin. He had already managed to pick up on one of the girls who came without a date. He had his arm around her and they appeared to be having a good time. He wasn't going to need those dances with Rosed after all.
The second thing that happened was that I noticed the clouds on the ceiling were not illuminated. Apparently, the band brought in more equipment and unplugged my lights. THAT WAS TWO HOURS OF HARD WORK WASTED! Really, I was angry that this was MY contribution to the prom and they took that away from me. I felt like going up, unplugging the band and plugging my lights back in, but that would have just made everyone mad at me.
Speaking of the band, I don't know whose idea it was to hire them, but they were not the ideal group for a prom. They mostly did rock covers, knew very little country and ALMOST NO SLOW SONGS! I remember one of the slow songs they did was "Stairway to Heaven," and they managed to keep the beat slow through the whole song.
I remember they did "Cotton-Eyed Joe." That was probably the only time all night that I danced with someone else besides Rosed. It was this girl named Celd, who was cute, but very short. She didn't know the dance, but I did and I taught it to her. (I learned it during square dancing lessons. Who knew that was going to come in handy?)
The prom came to an end, but the night didn't. There was an after-prom party at the Elks Lodge. It was designed to keep the students from going out and getting a motel room. One of the things they were going to do was serve breakfast at 4am.
The after-prom party wasn't going to be as fancy, so Rosed and I decided to change clothes before going to the Elks Lodge. I took her home first and then we went to my house. I think it took me longer to change than her because I had to carefully hang everything up. She probably just took off her dress and threw it on the bed.
I think everybody had a better time at the after-prom party because they had hired a country band for us to dance to. Rosed got tired around 2am and asked me to drive her back home. As expected, I did NOT kiss her goodnight after I dropped her off.
I decided to go back to the after-prom party so I could score that free breakfast. But something strange happened when I was driving back. About a mile before I got into town, I could see a police car behind me. The cars' lights never flashed on, but it kept up my pace without passing me. I knew I was driving under the limit, so I started wondering if they were following me. When I turned left off the highway to get to the Elks Lodge, the police also turned left, but again, they did not flash their lights. I parked my car outside the lodge, got out and started to walk to the door. I then heard someone yelling to get my attention. The police car had parked right behind my car. The officer told me that someone had reported that a car that looked like mine had run someone off the road. I told him it wasn't me. The officer just left. I have a feeling the police were aware it was prom night and were hoping to catch a few students who had been drinking. I probably didn't display any obvious signs that I had been drinking when they talked to me, although I'm pretty certain I wasn't swerving while I was driving, either.
There were several people who hung around for the breakfast. I ate mine and then I went home. Sunday afternoon, I went to help take all the prom decorations down, and put away the lighting equipment that wound up not getting used.
I didn't go to prom my senior year. After everything I went through for my junior year, I knew I would likely not be able to get anyone to go with me. I just went to the senior banquet and to the after-prom party. (I wanted to score that free breakfast again.) It was not as eventful as the previous year.
(I know that the prom my senior year did not feature a live band. They just hired a DJ. I'm pretty certain they didn't have to worry about a lack of slow songs.)
The last I heard about Rosed was a few years ago. Mom told me that at the time, she was getting divorced from her husband. They had been living in Gilroy, which is about 30 miles south of where I live. I had no idea. Mom said that they were having to sell their house, which was worth about $250,000. But that's California real estate for you. I have no idea what has happened to her since then.
I'm glad I did go to the prom and have that experience, just so I could write about it here.
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