Since you have seen the excerpt from "Cottonwood Pass" above, I thought you might enjoy a slice from "On Harrisonville Avenue." In this scene, 13 year old Ron is caught oogling a 15 year old girl in a bathing suit at the Elks Country Club Pool. His host, 38 year old Janet, surprises him.
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I looked around the swimming area and there was no sign of ‘Janet’. There were certainly many beautiful women and young ladies, some of them my age. One girl in particular was striking in a two piece white bathing suit against her dark tan skin. Her brown hair was short with no curl and her eyes were large and brown while her smile was broad and engaging. Clearly she stood out among the other girls.

“She’s 15, her name is Marne and she is the Cardiologist’s daughter – pretty isn’t she,” whispered Janet from behind me. On the one hand, I was embarrassed that she had caught me staring at the girl, but on the other hand I was pleased to be involved in a two way conversation with Janet alone.

“She’s not the prettiest one here though,” I said. As I got older, stuff came out of my mouth before I could control it. I knew that was not good, and this was one of those occasions.

Janet circled around me until she was in front of me, looking me in the eyes. “Tell me Ronnie. Who do you think here is prettier than Marne?” Janet said wryly, smiling and looking softly into my eyes. I had gotten myself into a corner and I was going to try and weasel out of it.

I started to mumble and look down at the ground. “I’d really be embarrassed to say.”

“There’s no reason for embarrassment, with me, Ronnie. I want you to feel like you can say anything you want to in front of me … so who is prettier than Marne?” Janet pressured.

I decided not to be a weasel. I knew she wanted to hear it and I wanted to tell her, so go ahead, look her right in her brown eyes and say it. “The person prettier than Marne is … (my throat tightened, I didn’t want to croak or hiss on my answer) … is … you.” There I said it. Its over.

“Do you really think so?” she asked. (It wasn’t over!) “She’s so young and, well, firm. What is there about me that would make you say that I’m prettier?”

Oh, God. I quickly started searching my mind for some lines that Cornel Wilde said to Yvonne DeCarlo at the movie last week, but nothing was coming to me.