Debbie Macomber - Between Friends

Mrs. Leonard Lawton

2330 Country Club Lane

Pine Ridge, Washington 98005

June 23, 1959

Dearest Aunt Jillian and Uncle Frank,

Leonard and I are overwhelmed by your generosity to Jillian. We received the paperwork regarding the $25,000 trust fund you’ve set up for her college education, and it took our breath away. We don’t know what to say other than to thank you both from the bottom of our hearts.

I’m so sorry to hear you won’t be able to join us in Hawaii this August. Uncle Frank, take good care of yourself!

We love you both, and although Jillian is too young to fully comprehend the significance of this trust fund, Leonard and I certainly do.

All our love,

Leonard, Barbara and Jillian

Jillian Lawton/English J. M. J.

September 7, 1959

HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION

School let out on Memorial Day and Lesley Adamski and I spent three whole days together while her mother was in the hospital having her baby brother, Bruce. We got to go to the Country Club with my dad and he let us carry his golf clubs for him. After that we went swimming and got a sunburn. The best day of the summer was when Lesley and I were at the pool at the Country Club.

Then in August my parents and I flew to Hawaii. This is the third time I’ve been to Hawaii. I didn’t get airsick on the plane. The stewardess let me hand out gum to the passengers before we took off and said I did a good job.

We were in Hawaii on August 21st when it became the fiftieth state. My father wanted to buy property, but he says no one can afford $1.25 a foot for beachfront.

I like Hawaii, but I like Pine Ridge better. Pine Ridge is home and that’s where my best friend lives. I feel sorry for all the Cuban refugees who are coming to America, having to leave their homes behind. I hope they’ll be able to return to their homeland soon. There really isn’t anyplace better than home. That’s what I learned this summer.

St. Mary Parochial School

1521 North Third Street

Pine Ridge, Washington

November 2, 1959

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Michael Adamski,

I regret to inform you that your tuition payment for Lesley, Susan and Mike is now three months past due. We trust that you will take care of this matter at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Sister Philippa

Bookkeeper

Jillian’s Diary

October 23, 1959

Lesley spent the night and we watched Rowdy Yates in Rawhide—he’s so handsome!!!!! Then we watched The Twilight Zone and hid our eyes at the scary parts. Lesley’s family hasn’t bought a television yet and she said she doesn’t mind, but I think she does. After Mom and Dad made us turn off the light, we lay on my bed and talked and listened to the radio. I called in and requested Bobby Darin’s “Mack the Knife” and later Lesley got through and asked for Paul Anka’s “Put Your Head on My Shoulder.” I wanted to ask for “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb,” but the disc jockey said I could only request one song at a time. I think Edd Byrnes is cute. Lesley does, too.

Lesley Adamski is my best friend for life.

Jillian’s Diary

January 1, 1962

This is my first entry in the new diary Mom and Dad got me for Christmas. My name’s engraved on the front. They got Lesley one, too, with her name engraved on it. We both plan to write in them every night all year.

My day started off bad. Mom and I had a fight about the bomb shelter. It’s all finished now and takes up half the basement. Dad had it built in case of an atomic bomb. It’s ugly, with bare concrete walls and shelves filled with canned food and emergency supplies. I told Mom that if Russia dropped a bomb on us I’d rather die with the rest of my friends. Mom said Dad built it because of me and I should be grateful. She also said she won’t have me talk about dying when there’s a perfectly safe place for us in our own home.

I went to my room and closed the door. Well, actually I slammed it. I used to be able to talk to my mom about anything. I still can with my dad. He’s older than a lot of my friends’ dads, but he understands what it’s like to be almost fourteen. Sometimes on Saturday mornings he takes me to breakfast and I sit with all his attorney friends. Dad includes me in the conversation and that makes me feel important. We talk about me going to law school one day, and I think I will. I like listening to my dad and I’m proud that he’s a judge. People respect him and like him. I bet there isn’t anything he doesn’t know about the law.

Lesley phoned in the afternoon and I told her about Mr. Hanson kissing me at midnight. (I know him from breakfast on Saturdays with my dad.) It wasn’t a real kiss, but it was close. He kissed my cheek and told me I was going to grow up to be a beauty. I hope he’s right. I don’t feel beautiful with a mouthful of metal braces.

The New Year’s party was really cool except Mom kept insisting everyone go downstairs to take a peek at the bomb shelter. She thinks Dad was prudent by having it built. She insists he was the one who wanted it, but I know Mom put the idea in his head. She mentioned it first and then found the plans and talked to the contractor. The concrete was poured while we were in Hawaii this summer.

I had a good time at the party, and I’m glad Mom and Dad finally realized that I’m old enough to participate. I’m not a child, although Mom treats me like one. Jerry Lee Lewis married his cousin and she’s younger than I am!

Lesley told me about her New Year’s Eve. We talked for half an hour, but she’s on a party line and we kept getting interrupted. She spent New Year’s Eve babysitting for the Randalls. She said it was the easiest $3.00 she ever earned.

Lesley hasn’t been kissed for real, either. I don’t understand why because she’s super pretty and smart, too. She’s pretty enough to be a high school cheerleader if she wanted. I told her she should try out next year but she can’t because her mother needs her to help at home. She has five brothers and sisters now. I wish Lesley was my sister. Her mother hasn’t been feeling very well since Bruce was born and her father doesn’t always have a job. But Lesley never complains. In all the years we’ve been best friends, I’ve only stayed the night at her house once and then we camped outside. I don’t mind, though. I think Mom and Dad prefer that she comes here, and they don’t need to tell me why, either. (Mr. Adamski drinks too much. Sometimes when I call Lesley, I can hear him yelling in the background.)

Larry Martin phoned after dinner and asked if I’d be at the boys’ basketball game next Saturday. I told him I would.

Mom and Dad have already told me they want me to attend Holy Name Academy next year. I don’t think I’m going to like attending an all-girls school, but it’ll be all right as long as Lesley is there, too.

No one else phoned and I lay on my bed and listened to music for the rest of the afternoon. I like Roy Orbison and the Supremes the best. Mostly I thought about next year and high school and wondered if I’d ever be kissed for real and by whom. Lesley says I probably will be soon. Maybe Larry will kiss me. I wonder if it’s possible for Lesley and me to be kissed on the very same night. That way we won’t have to worry about who was first.

I don’t care what Mom says, I’m not going into that bomb shelter without Lesley. We’ve been friends our entire lives and I refuse to let her die because her family can’t afford to build a bomb shelter.

Pine Ridge Herald

May 29, 1962

Top Ten Students From

St. Mary Junior High Named

The Sisters of Providence have named the top ten students from the eighth-grade graduating class. They are listed in order of ranking: Jillian Lawton, Lesley Adamski, Jerry Englehardt, Marilyn Andrews, Bonnie Gamache, Bernard Simmons, Yvette Dwight, David Thoma, Steve Bounds and Diane Kerry. Each student received a twenty-five dollar scholarship toward tuition at either Holy Name Academy or Marquette High School.