The following is a story based on people and places that I am very familiar with. All of the names and places have been changed to protect those who were involved in what happened so many years ago except for the title character:
Cindy Lou
As I reach the autumn of my life and am mourning the loss of the love of my life and bride of nearly half a century, I have been thinking back to my "first time". My name is Jonathan Stevens MacIntyre, but I prefer Jon, even though the little old ladies in town still call me "Little Jonnie" (it still drives me nuts). I grew up in a little village in the outskirts of the largest city on the Illinois River. My father was a businessman, my mother was a homemaker, and I was their pride and joy (the only child). It was in the late spring during the second half of my senior year in high school that the following happened. Since my birthday was in the fall, I was only eighteen and one of the youngest kids in my graduating class. I was a band nerd and painfully shy so I hadn't been bold enough to even ask a girl out, let alone date. By this time I was tall and slender (6' 1", 140lbs) and not a great physical specimen, although I was fairly well endowed (I only say this because compared to the other guys in gym class I fell somewhere above average).
Our school's varsity band didn't make the state finals, but our brass wind ensemble did, so we had to provide our own transportation to the state college in a neighboring town where the competition was to be held, but since the contest was on a Friday, we were given the day off from school. Our group was made up of myself on the French horn, Alvin on trombone, my best friend Jack on tuba and Cindy Lou and Bill on trumpets. Bill and Alvin rode together, Jack and I rode together, and Cindy Lou drove the brand new car that her dad had given her for a combination 18th birthday and early graduation gift.
We all arrived early and prepared for our performance, tuning up and running through several of the phrases and making sure we were ready. We were all very sure of ourselves because we had blown away all of the local talent in the regionals, so we were not nervous at all. That was until we heard who our competition was, a group from a small school in Wilmett and another from a big magnet school from Champaign-Urbana. We listened nervously to the suburban Chicago school that went first, and were relieved because the long trip really had an effect on their performance. They were awful! Next came the kids from the U of I sponsored school, and they were good, but we knew we were better. When it came for our turn we were perfect, and there was no doubt that we had won. All that remained was for the judges to post their results.
As I was waiting for the answer, my buddy Jack came up to me and said "Hey Jon, can you get a ride home, I just ran into an old girlfriend and I think I'm going to get lucky." I told him that it was no problem, and just then they posted that in fact we had won. I went looking for Alvin and Bill and they were nowhere to be found. Just then I found Cindy Lou. I asked her if she would give me a ride home, and she said "Sure I'd love to".
We picked up our horns and walked out to the parking lot and put them into the trunk of her "Baby", a brand new 1964 white Ford Fairlaine 500 with red vinyl bucket seats. We both got in and headed for home. The car was beautiful but didn't have air conditioning so, as it was a warm spring day we had the windows down.
Perhaps I should take this opportunity to describe Cindy Lou and how she was dressed. Because we were not performing with the whole band, we were not allowed to wear our uniforms. We were wearing white dress shirts and black slacks with black shoes and socks (a white blouse and black skirt with black flats in Cindy Lou's case). Cindy was beautiful and she knew it. As the only girl in the family (she had four older brothers), her rich daddy spoiled her rotten. At 5' 4" and about 120lbs, she oozed sex appeal. She had shoulder length strawberry blonde hair and azure blue eyes. Her skin was fair with just a sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She had long shapely legs, a tight round little butt, a tiny waist, and a well developed chest that was straining to break free from the blouse she was wearing. She had unbuttoned four buttons so that her lacy bra was quite visible and showed quite a bit of cleavage as the wind whipped through the open windows of her "Baby" as we drove at 70mph down US 150 on the way home.