Page 154 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
occasion of our joint bar mitzvah; I mention Sarjie because she ultimately got involved as well and because I associate her with at least one bon mot of mine, albeit unintended—that being the word that I misused to describe the basis for my diagnosis on the eve of my hernia operation.)
Thus it was that at some point in my first month at Midwood, I found myself in Susan Schwartz’s apartment with (maybe) Arnie or (maybe) Sarjie and (certainly) at least twelve of the most beautiful and intimidating girls whom, in my eyes, I had ever seen. I attribute the fact that they were beautiful in my eyes to the fact that they were beautiful. But I also attribute that fact to the fact that they looked and carried themselves more like women than any other girls I could recall.
Three of the beautiful girls were Sandra Miller, Patricia Treib, and Denise Goodman, friends whose names would always be said together as “SandyPatty’nDenise” and in that order. All of them would become cheerleaders (who, in those days, were not picked for their athletic prowess)—and friends of mine (wow!). At school all three wore Jean Nate perfume or after-bath fragrance that, to this day, can elicit a posi- tive reaction from me. They were not alone in doing so. (Boys who wanted to be cool wore English Leather cologne—or Canoe, which was supposed to be pronounced “can-new-way,” but was pronounced with- out the extra syllable in Brooklyn [probably a first].) And SandyPatty’nDenise, along with most of the girls with whom I hung out, had their hair in a “pageboy flip” and wore plaid pleated skirts, knee socks, man-tailored shirts with Peter Pan collars, cardigan sweaters, and the pièce de résistance: a circle pin worn on the sweater or blouse, which was referred to, deservedly, as a “Virgin Pin.” This look persisted through my college days (except for the pin), at which time it was maintained, but augmented by the wearing of a headband. Of course, because this first Lyric Committee meeting was on a Saturday, the girls were all in jeans, which was just fine with me.
Remember, at this point, having taken S.P., I was a thirteen-year- old sophomore, going on fourteen, inexperienced with Sing and (as you no doubt will have guessed) many other things. These girls, on the
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