There was still one more event in the reintroduction of Janet and now the changing Suzy. It was held August 20th. This event had the additional significance of being held on the twelfth birthday of the Ferman twins and the only guests would be the other members of the Distaff Sextet. Yes, the Distaff Quartet had become the Distaff Sextet and Suzy had chosen Dalton Snyder, Dallas's brother, as her nomination to the Sextet's male auxiliary. Dalton would only be in the sixth grade but Suzy had had her eye on him since fifth grade. Dallas didn't mind. Dalton was just 11 months younger. Dallas was just glad Suzy didn't pick Denver. He was 14 and a pain in the - well, you know. Dallas was glad his parents had stopped at three. He might have ended up with a brother named Des Moines, or Dubuque or Detroit or God knows what other dumb-ass D city.
Millie was ambivalent. Twelve! The next one would be thirteen, and she'd be a teenager. You can't be a teenager and a child. Millie still wasn't sure she wanted to leave her childhood. Her childhood had been fun. She understood childhood. Teenage, to her, was like that poet guy's "good night" and she agreed with the poet. She did not plan to go gentle into that good night. But, she had no choice. It would come.
The choice of Dalton, as had Bobby's, had to be passed through Millie, not because Millie demanded final say but important choices were not made by Elton seventh grade girls without Millie Ferman's approval. That still annoyed Millie. But Millie did approve of Dalton. He was cute and funny. Not as cute as Dallas but he was cute. It occurred to Millie that boys were now cute, not "such children." When did that happen?
Like most anything Millie was associated with, it was a fun party. They swam in the swimming hole, did the "Happy Birthday to You" thing, opened presents and ate. Afterward, they just sat around and joked, talked and teased. At one point the boys went out to shoot baskets so the girls took that opportunity to talk about the boys, mostly which one was the cutest. The conversation was becoming animated, seemingly approaching hostility. Millie cooled things down with, "Look, girls, we're all prejudiced and we'll never settle this," and with a twinkle in her eyes, "Anyway, you're all too stubborn to admit that there's no boy in the world as cute as Dallas."
That got a laugh and a change of subject. Occasionally a girl would leave the room to use the bathroom or to get a drink or to look out the window to see what the boys were up to. At one point Millie noticed that all the boys were still shooting baskets but Freddy. She went out and asked where Freddy was. Dallas said, "I don't know. Marlene and him went that way." He pointed toward the chicken coop.
Millie started in that direction and Dallas followed. They found Freddy and Marlene around the corner of the chicken coop - KISSING! And it wasn't just a peck on the cheek kiss. It was a real mouth-on-mouth KISS.
Neither said anything. They just stood there and watched and wondered if the kiss was ever going to end. Dallas broke the silence. "Wanta?"
Millie did and then understood why Freddy's and Marlene's kiss lasted so long. Millie didn't want this one to ever end. When it did, Dallas stood in a kind of daze and Millie thought, Wow! Maybe growing up isn't so bad after all.