Fairmount, Indiana. 1948.
It was a hot Monday afternoon in the small farm town of Fairmount. The sounds of cows mooing and tractors running was all that could be heard in the Dean household. The children played outside in the front lawn, loudly screaming at each other.
17 year old Jimmy sat up inside his room with the door locked so that no one would interrupt his cigarette smoking. His mother never let him smoke inside the house but he didn't care. He kept his window open and did whatever he wanted. He sighed. The quiet Indiana air wasn't his cup of tea. He was beginning to hate it here. The boring high school routine he had to follow every morning and being in his house all day long right after. It was so monotonous and he hated it. He couldn't wait to be old enough to leave this town. He sat in front of his window with his cigarette hanging from his lips, blowing out the poisonous smoke.
His posture straightened up immediately once he saw a familiar figure open up the wooden front gate of his front lawn. It was Abigail. His best friend. Her curly brown hair bounced as she walked down the pathway of the front lawn past Jimmy's cousins that were still obnoxiously playing tag. She had on a short sleeved yellow dress that went down to cover her knees.
He watched her closely until she finally looked up towards his window while she was walking toward his house. He quickly pulled the cigarette from his mouth and softly smiled. She laughed as she shielded her eyes from the sun with one hand and waved at him with the other. She was laughing because of his cigarette smoking habit and he was smiling because he thought she was absolutely beautiful.
He quickly put out his cigarette and flicked it out the window. He hurriedly put on his long sleeved dress shirt that he's been continuously wearing for two days straight now over his tank top and ran out of his room.
Whenever Jimmy was running out of the house, his momma knew it was cause Abby was outside waiting for him. She'd never see Jimmy with so much emotion in his body unless she was around and it truly made her feel happy.
"Tuck your shirt in, Jimmy!" She yelled at him as he ran by the kitchen and out the door. Abby was waiting on the front lawn right in the spot she stopped at to wave at Jimmy. She smiled as she saw him quickly buttoning his beige looking shirt. She thought it was cute how messy he was and how messy he tried not to be when he was around her. He was a nervous wreck sometimes that she often had to remind him to relax.
"Where we goin' today?" Jimmy asked Abby as he shoved the rest of his shirt into his pants. He went down the two steps of the porch and they both walked alongside each other down the front lawn. She looked up at Jimmy with her squinted light brown eyes that were being hit by the rays of sunlight.
"We're goin' down to the creak over by my house." She spoke, watchinghim for his reaction. He frowned, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants. It was a bit unexpected that they were going to the creak. Why there?
"The creak? We're goin' swimmin'?" He asked, making her immediately smile. She secretly made Jimmy swoon but she didn't know that. He couldn't tell her because why would Abby like someone like him? He was a mess. Or at least that's what he thought of himself. Girls don't like messy guys.
"Yeah, it's hot. What? You scared of a little water?" She challenged him, poking his side making him chuckle a bit. Thats exactly what Abby was. A challenge. She was full of challenges and Jimmy liked that. She excited him because she was an outgoing soul and she loved an adventure which prompted Jimmy to step out of his bubble when he was with her.
The walk to the creak close to Abby's house was not long but it wasn't short either. They had stopped at the convenience store to get Jimmy a pack of cigarettes and some matches and to get Abby some pop. Once they finally got down to the creak, Jimmy began to unbutton his shirt again before popping a cigarette in his mouth. Abby began to remove her shoes and her yellow dress. She had on a blue swimming suit under her clothes and when Jimmy looked up from taking off his clothes, he couldn't help but stare. He tried to be as discreet as possible but he failed so badly.
