The Carlton Club by Katherine Stone Read Free Book Online Page A

A star. So, it was his fault that Janet auditioned for the lead in Lincoln High School’s production of South Pacific that spring. It was her fault, because of her talent, that she won the part. As Nellie, Janet got to “wash that man right outta my hair,” to be as “corny as Kansas in August” and to sing a lovely, romantic, moving duet about “some enchanted evening.”
    Janet was a sensation. The standing ovations, the rave reviews in the Lincoln newspapers, the sellout performances were all testimony to her marvelous, captivating talent.
    But Janet’s success made some people squirm. Who the hell does she think she is? the girls who dated Mark’s friends, who considered Mark one of theirs, wondered. It was amazing enough that the quiet, country hick could seduce Mark into leaving lively, vivacious Sara. “She has to be putting out!” they hissed. And now Janet had virtually stolen the lead from another one of them.
    It was too pushy. Too nervy. Didn’t the country girl know her place?
    Janet’s success also made Mark’s parents squirm. From the beginning they hoped this unfortunate liaison would pass, that Mark would outgrow Janet’s country naiveté or get bored with her passivity. As the months passed, they were afraid he wouldn’t. For the first time in his life, Mark countered their incessant plans for his future with plans of his own.
    “Won’t it be wonderful when you finish your residency and return to join your father in practice? You’ll probably want to live nearby. In the country club, maybe.”
    Mark had been hearing plans like that for years. Usually he made no comment, silently acknowledging his parents’ words with a taciturn nod. Now, because of Janet, he had plans of his own, and his parents didn’t like what they heard.
    “Janet and I are going to live outside of town. In the country. I won’t mind commuting.”
    That made his parents squirm. As they watched their maybe future daughter-in-law prance around the stage in skimpy outfits, they squirmed even more. It was all so undignified. So improper.
    Of course they hadn’t minded watching Sara Johnston, daughter of Lincoln’s best general surgeon, leading cheers at the football and basketball games. They wouldn’t have minded having Sara as their daughter-in-law. In fact, that was what they had planned.
    Janet detected the Collinsworths’ disapproval of her immediately.
    “Why don’t your folks like me?” she asked. She did not say, “I don’t think your folks like me,” or, “I wonder if they don’t like me.” Janet asked, as a matter of fact, why they didn’t like her.
    “They had plans for me and Sara,” Mark said. “Daughter of leading surgeon and son of leading internist, himself destined to be the leading internist. That sort of thing.”
    The best with the best, Janet mused.
    Janet didn’t like Mark’s parents, either. She knew, although she and Mark never discussed it, that his father was the driving force behind Mark’s obsession with success and achievement. Janet resented Dr. Collinsworth for it. She resented the pressure on Mark.
    Mark loved Janet’s performance in South Pacific . Janet loved it, too. She learned that she loved something more than just the singing. She loved performing. She loved the audience. She loved sharing her talent and her joy.
    During the last month of their junior year in high school, Mark was elected student body president and give Janet his class pin and his letter sweater. And he kissed her breasts for the first time.
    They lay in their cornfield on a balmy spring night, softly lighted by the vernal moon. They had kissed, without talking, for an hour. Slowly, Mark lowered his hand over her blouse, then gently slipped his fingers between the buttons, touching her soft skin. Then he carefully unbuttoned a button, trying to sense her reaction, hoping she wouldn’t resist, knowing he would stop if she did.
    Janet didn’t resist. She moved closer to him. She helped him