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Show 102. "Yes, that's it," she sarcasmed back. "I'll stop breathing if I don't see you every day." A couple they knew moved in beside them and began to chat. "Hi, Kim, Scotty," JD welcomed them. "Isn't this the most?" Kim asked. "It's gorgeous," Gayle agreed, sipping her punch. "What's happening in the extraterrestrial world, JD?" Scott asked. "Nothing new." JD gave Scotty a little shove into a nearby post. "You mean you've given up on finding life out there? You, our Red Butte contact, our last great hope?" JD laughed. "What's new with you, Cabbage Head?" "Same old grind. School, basketball." "At least JD does interesting things," Kim chided Scott. She winked as she pulled Scotty out on the floor. The combo had revived an early forties number and was amplifying it at full blast. In a minute Kim and Scotty had boogied right into the crowd. "Want to dance?" JD put down his empty cup and swivelled a step or two toward Gayle. "Why do you let Scott talk to you that way?" she scowled. "What way? What'd he say?" "That snide bit about the extraterrestrial world." "Oh, heck, Gayle, that's just Scott." She set down her lemonade, half-finished. "JD, let's go. If they play 'Jingle Bell Rock' one more time I'll scream!" "What's the matter? Do you want to dance with someone else? Say so and I'll cut in--" "No, JD. Really, let's get out of here," she pleaded. "I don't feel very well." "Are you sick?" "No, I'm not sick! You'd get a worried look on your face if I said I had a hangnail! I just don't feel like being here. Let's go somewhere." "Sure," JD answered. Why not? He's suggested it in the first place. JD knew something had been eating at Gayle the entire week before the dance. They went along, pretending, he thought, that everything was the same as always. But it wasn't. Even so, tonight, before Gayle left with her folks for vacation, he wanted to give her the Christmas present. |