When I received her call inviting me to a party at her house I really had no idea who the person was. I am pretty sure she must have gone through a list of mutual friends and acquaintances and how she happened to know who I was. Some people would want other people to believe that if someone is Jewish in the city of Milwaukee every other Jewish person in Milwaukee knows that person. Nothing could be further from the truth. But, as soon as I hung up the phone after accepting her invitation my mind started racing through all the places I could have possibly met Renee. All the bar and bat mitzvahs were quickly catalogued in my brain followed by any event at any synagogue or the Jewish Center. It amazed me I could not come up with anything about her; not one feature stood out in my mind. Fortunately, she had told me Artie K would be at the party since he was one of the few people I knew who attended John Marshall Junior-Senior High School. As I stood on the doorstep of the two-story limestone house in the middle of a block of similarly well-constructed homes, my mind started to imagine Renee looking like Annette Funicello. The girl who came to the door had dark hair, a big smile, and a bubbly personality like Annette, but that is about as far as one can take the comparison. She extended her hand, introduced herself, and told me to follow her through the living room and downstairs to the basement where the party was being held. Renee quickly introduced me to everyone, and besides Artie K I knew one other person, Carla, who went to my synagogue. A few of her friends looked familiar, especially Karen who happened to be sitting next to the girl I wanted to get to know. After striking up a conversation with Karen, her friend Jan interrupted and wanted to know if I was wearing Old Spice. Of course I was because that was what my father wore so I had put some on before leaving home, but I didn’t know whether to admit it. Since I hesitated Jan just picked up the conversation by telling me she preferred Old Spice to English Leather, but what she really liked was Canoe. She reached her arm across in front of Karen and pushed her wrist up under my nose. To make things right she held her wrist under Karen’s nose long enough for her to take a whiff and nod in agreement. As the music changed Jan asked if I knew “these guys” like for some reason I would know members of a band. Her nose was too large for her face, but the freckles across it accentuated the twinkle in her eye and when she told me in her small voice that came from her equally tiny mouth that the band was called The Animals my face lit up. Then, as they started to play House of the Rising Sun she did something no one had ever done before, she asked me to dance. As she laid her head down on my shoulder and my arms folded around her I knew I was in love. Later, someone came up with the idea of playing spin the bottle. The girls spun a bottle and whatever boy it pointed to had to go with her into the next room to kiss. When the bottle pointed to me I thought I finally find the girl of my dreams and now my first kiss will be with Carla. But, when we got in the other room Carla said we just had to stay quiet for a few minutes and no one would ask us any questions. She was right, and I was relieved. I’m not sure if Jan took a turn, but if she did I’m sure I was hoping she would fake it like we did. For the next few weeks I wrote Jan all over my book jackets, pocket folders, and spiral notebooks. As far as anyone at Samuel Morse Junior High knew she was my girlfriend, and it would remain that way at least until I got to John Marshall Junior-Senior High and had the opportunity to see if I could make it come true.
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